Oma & The Girls

This is a test post for me to see how to use YouTube to post my own videos. These are short videos of Oma playing Patty Cake with each of the girls on Christmas Eve.







And a little bit of wrestling as well:

Praise the Lord!

He has been so faithful to us and it is really starting to show up in ways that I never dreamed possible just a few years ago. Due to having our priorities in the wrong spot and some things not going the way that we thought they were going to, we got ourselves dug into some DEEP debt. In February of 2007 I felt Him nudge me to begin a fast of Diet Coke. I was and still am very addicted to it, specially fountain Diet Coke from McDonald's. I LOVE it! After almost 2 years, I still get cravings. When I have a bad day, that's all that I want to pick me up. I didn't know why at the time but I left that New Community service and began my fast. It was the first time that I truly tried to fast from anything. A few months into the fast He told me it was to last until we were out of credit card debt. I wanted to cry. Our debt was in the mid 5 digit range. It would be YEARS before I could have a Diet Coke again. Or so I thought. I see the light at the end of the tunnel and I'm sure it's not a train : )

One thing that I watch monthly is my FICO score. At this point in my life, I don't care what it is because I hope to not have to worry about getting credit again (as long as we can stick with Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace plan). Here is my snapshop from this morning of my FICO score tracking for the past 12 months. It has gone up from 662 in January 2008 to 750 in December of 2008. The highest you can have is 850. It is down from July because in August I closed one of my cards when I paid it off so my ratio of available debt to debt limit came down. That's a good thing as far as I'm concerned. Only one credit card left to pay off and we will be credit card debt FREE! But all to the glory of Him because we certainly could not have done this on our own.

FICO® Score Tracking

Track your score for each month that you've been a customer, up to one year.

	662		632		626		737		744		740		760		725		720		721		741		750
	Jan 08		Feb 08		Mar 08		Apr 08		May 08		Jun 08		Jul 08		Aug 08		Sep 08		Oct 08		Nov 08		Dec 08

Provided by: TransUnion

Updated on: Dec 01,2008

Ebay Superstar

This email was in my in-box this morning. I've been selling on eBay since September 15, 2001 - just over 7 years now. I didn't plan on buying nor selling that much. I thing I had only signed up in order to get some free points for something. But here I am now with over 1,000 positive transactions (1224 actually but you do not get more than 1 point from the same buyer/seller). That's a whole lot of crap to have sold! Which means that's a whole lot of crap to have owned! Granted, not all of the sales were my own things, but the vast majority of them were. I sold so much just last year that I became a PowerSeller. That is one recognition that I'd be happy to lose : )


Congratulations! You've earned a feedback rating of 1,000--earning you a Red Star on eBay!

We want you to know how much we appreciate your valuable contribution as an eBay community member. It's people like you who have helped make eBay, The World's Online Marketplace^TM, a safe and vibrant place to buy and sell. You are a guiding star, and we wouldn't be here without people like you!

We hope you'll download your Red Star Certificate and display it proudly. You've certainly earned it! (You will need Adobe Acrobat Reader. If you don't have it, get it here.)

Again, congratulations on your stellar success, and keep shooting for the stars!


John Donahoe
President and CEO, eBay Inc.

Happy Blogiversary To Me!

So one year ago I started this blog. That sure was a smart thing to do in the middle of holiday craziness and prepping the house to sell or rent and trying to eBay or Craiglist most of our belongings. But that seems so far away now! At that time we also thought our baby was years into the future as well. And now we are only a few months until our "Gotcha Day". God's timing is always perfect but just doesn't always seem to make sense in the present.

In a few days (5 to be exact) My Man will begin his 2 week vacation. That is the longest amount of time that he has ever taken off just to 'be' with us. Hopefully we won't all tire from each other and will have a happy quiet ending to the year. We are even going away. We are 'house/pet sitting' for T$'s Principal at his current school while her family goes off somewhere fun.

Special Post for My Dear Friend George

George is so lucky to have a friend like me - one who latches on to something and never lets it go until it's been beaten dead. So, this is a special post for her.

God will never thank us. BUT we should always thank each other. So just for her (and any others recently married - 6 months ago for George - that have yet to send out their wedding card thank yous) I found some etiquette rules for thank yous. Here are the higlights:

"There is no way around it. After the wedding cake has been eaten, after the honeymoon is over, there is still one more wedding-related matter to attend to. It’s time for the newlyweds to send out their thank you cards. Most couples like to procrastinate when it comes to showing their gratitude, but all the experts agree, this is one area where etiquette must not be breached.

Perhaps you feel you’ve put it off for too long and it’s too late, or maybe you’re not sure how your note should be worded. Don’t let this keep you from letting your guests know how much you appreciated not only their generosity, but also that they were able to share your special day. It may seem like a daunting task to write a personal note to 250 guests, but if you work together as a couple, the time is sure to pass quickly. Before you know it, they’ll be in the mail and you can focus on other areas of marital bliss. Below are some guidelines to get you started.

- A thank you note must never be preprinted or typed. A personalized, handwritten note is expected. Many printers offer blank note cards printed in the same design as the wedding invitation specifically for this purpose. Photographers also offer blank thank you notes that come with a picture of the happy couple. The same rule applies to the envelope, it should be hand written, showing your guests they were each special enough for you to take this extra step.

- “Thank you for your gift” will not cut it. Each gift must be noted and discussed, even if more than one gift

was given. “Thank you for the toaster oven, what better way for us to start our morning than with warm bread and jam!” not only tells the gift giver the gift is appreciated, but it also lets him or her know you look forward to using the gift. If you receive a gift of money, never mention the amount or the words “money,” “cash,” or “check.” “Thank you for your generous gift. We’re putting it towards a down payment on a house” is not only a gracious way to acknowledge a money gift, but it also lets the reader know the gift will be put to good use."

And, yes God will never thank us but we should thank each other, and in person is not sufficient, a card with a stamp that is going to be thrown away and fill up our landfills is necessary.

God Isn't Grateful

December 13, 2008 | By: John Piper
Category: Commentary

It is good news that we will never be thanked by God.

Not thanking us is a form of love.

We need to adjust our expectations of what it feels like to be loved by God compared to what it feels like to be loved by men.

Good Times

I sit here typing this as hubby nurses his G2. He's not hung-over, he just wants some Gatorade today. We had a FABULOUS time last night thanks to the hospitality of the Kellys. Once again Superstar outdid herself. Her lovely niece offered to come over and play with the kids so that the adults could enjoy each other's company without having to worry about them. She did this for FREE! What a generous gift that was to all of us parents (and those without kids because they didn't have to listen to our kids constantly interrupting us). She planned good food and games and movies and offered small gifts to keep
them occupied all night long. Then with the help of T$ and my Man, they served up a super fun mystery meal with a few more fun games after that. LOTS of veggies with dip and salsa with chips and chocolate covered pretzels were eaten, along with a bit of wine. I was quite crabby yesterday and didn't really feel like going out but I'm so THRILLED that I did. I love most of those people. We had so much fun that Banter had to take a nap mid-evening to be able to keep up with us.

Advent Conspiracy

Christmas changed for us last year. We remembered 'the reason for the season' and celebrated accordingly. We had slowly been moving towards this but our pending move to NYC pushed us into it completely. Why should we buy more presents when we are selling everything we own? For the past few years, the in-laws had all agreed to give the girls money towards their college tuition savings program and give them something small just to open. My family would not agree to that so we continued to over-indulge buying the girls things that they didn't need and/or would get donated within a few months. They received so many presents that I used to keep some unopened stored in a closet to pull out and give to them at a later date so they wouldn't be so over-whelmed with everything that they got. My Mom lost her job last year so they finally had no choice but to scale Christmas giving back to one present only (that my Mom had already purchased before she lost her job) for each child. My MIL stresses about Christmas giving. This year my Dad is stressing about not having money to buy even one present for each grandchild. A 34 year old man was killed on Black Friday because of the madness. With the current economy, I would think that others would be pushed to remember the real reason for the season but I guess it hasn't done that. It's only created more stress on buying presents with money that they don't have. This year the girls will each get 3 presents, just like last year, because that is what Jesus got. But they will be small presents that aren't expensive and that don't take up a lot of room.

I won't be mailing out Christmas cards again this year. I don't have the time nor the desire to spend the money on cards and stamps only to them thrown into the trash within a few weeks. We will try to focus on the reason for the holiday and not the madness that surrounds it these days. We won't be buying presents for anyone else either. I'll do my holiday baking and pass out cookies and breads. We'll also give to Kensington's 'Christmas Has A Face' holiday campaign where all of the money collected will go towards needy families in the Metro Detroit area for food and clothing. We are so blessed to have more than we need.

Worthy and Easy Can Donation

Friends of ours have decided to donate a canned good to a local food bank for every comment that they receive on their blog. Please visit them and leave a comment anywhere. I'd love to have them over-whelmed with comments. Please also pass this around to all of your friends and family.

http://arisingimages.com/blog/detroit-needs-our-cans/544/

Miracle on 34th Street

Miracle on 34th Street is my #2 all time favorite Christmas movie. I watch it every single year. I had though that my Man watched it with me too. He reminded me that he DOESN'T.

Last night we went to the Redford Theatre with George and her family to see it. I thought everyone has seen this movie. It's a classic! Who hasn't seen it. Well not only had Pete not seen it, neither had they.

We met up for dinner at Outback Steakhouse for dinner before hand because they are one of the few restaurants around here that actually has a gluten free menu and don't look at you like you have 2 heads when you ask for one. When I walked into the place, I realized that we were a minority. I was not expecting that. It was an odd feeling. One that I'm getting used to little by little. This is how our baby is going to feel if we aren't intentional about the places that we go to.

The theatre is beautiful. It is old and historical. I've lived here all my life and I didn't know this place existed. They had a Santa in the lobby that the kids could visit and take pictures with. They had a village with moving people set up in front of the stage. They also had an organ and an organ player playing Christmas songs on it. They played a cartoon and the beginning and took an intermission. And it was only $4 per person! AND concessions were reasonable! We paid $13 for 3 pops, large popcorn, and 3 bags of candy. You can't get all that for that price at the regular theatre. That made it all the more enjoyable.

All in in all, it was a very fun night. The girls had a great time and I think Pete will watch it with me every year now.

They are playing The Sound of Music in the beginning of 2009. Again, these folks have not seen this classic either! I think we'll be planning another family movie night out there.

2 years ago I never would have imagined that I'd have become friends with George and her family. I've only known them for just over a year. I just love them! I can't imagine not doing life with them anymore. God's plan is always better than our own.

Swagbucks

I just found out about a new way to earn free giftcards - just by doing searches that you would normally do anyways! You can go directly to the Swagbucks site or download their toolbar for ease of use and earn points towards free giftcards with every search that you do. The trick to earning mega points is through referrals so I'd suggest referring everyone in your contact list for your maximum chances of earning points.

I've been using MyPoints for over 8 years now. While I have earned a few gift cards, it takes me literally months to earn enough points by clicking on emails for free giftcards. Swagbucks allows earning at a much faster rate.

I read about it on Money Saving Mom. She said it best:

" don't know about you, but I do a lot of searching online. If I need to find the answer to just about anything, Google is my best friend.

So when Lavonne told me about Swagbucks -an online search engine that rewards you for searching online--I was all ears. Especially when she told me she had earned enough in Swagbucks in the last four months to receive hundreds of dollars in gift cards.

I did some investigation and learned that Swagbucks is very simple to sign up for. In fact, it takes all of about one minute. There are no fees, no credit card required, and no phone number or address requested.

After that, you are credited 3 points to your account and then download the toolbar and every day as you're searching online, you earn a few more points. After only 45 points earned, you can get a free Amazon gift card. Or at 50 points, you can get a Starbucks gift card. There are dozens of other prizes, too.

Now, you might be thinking, "What's the big deal if I only earn a $5 gift card every month?" Well, you're right, $5 isn't that exciting. It's something, but that's only the beginning. You see, your earnings will exponentially multiply when you refer others.

Do you know anyone else who searches online? I thought so. Well, tell them about Swagbucks, send them your referral link, and you'll not only instantly earn more points when they sign up, you'll also earn points for the searching they do online.

Tell lots of folks and you're well on your way to funding your entire Christmas budget with free gift cards from Swagbucks. I'm not kidding you, that's exactly what Lavonne did. See her post here with the details.

For those of you who have blogs, you'll especially want to jump on board with this. It's free, it won't take much of your time to do, and it could generate a nice stream of gift cards in your mailbox.

I don't know about you, but that sounds pretty sweet to me! So what are you waiting for? Go sign up here"

New Community

New Community tonight was great! For one, we were able to see many of the kids we know at church perform on stage. They did a very cute Christmas number. It seemed shorter than normal and it must have been because we were out of service at 8 pm instead of the typical 8:30 pm on a performance night. K2 seemed a bit disappointed. She was thrilled to see her friends on stage but sad that she wasn't. It was the first time in that the girls watched instead of performed. We had thought we were going to be in NYC by this time so at the very last minute I un-enrolled the girls. Turns out we were here. It was still good for them to watch too and to realize that they can't always be on stage. I did sign them up for next session. We may not be here for performance night but I'm not going to plan that way. Since we don't know for sure, I'm just planning for what I do know and that is that we are here now. We maybe in China or NYC or Troy but I"m not worrying about that.

Second, the message was on our relationship with Christ. Steve Andrews did his message based on the book True Faced by Bill Thrall. Do we follow the road of trying to please God buy struggling with the door of effort and hang out in a room withe a bunch of people with masks on or do we follow the road of trusting God and hanging out in the room of grace where everyone is open and admits to being sinners but always knowing God is with them regardless. I have been following the road of trying to please Him. It's been hard lately. I've been feeling like I've failed Him in so many ways. This message was perfect timing for me. I'm getting on the road to trusting Him and knowing that He is with me and all my glorious faults. I'll still try to do the right things but I won't beat myself up as much thinking that I failed Him. I'll leave that for my earthly father to cope with.

K2 Has ADD

I think I've known K2 would eventually be diagnosed with ADD (not to be confused with ADHD - she's not hyper beyond that of a normal 6 year old) as soon as she was walking. She would constantly walk into walls because she wouldn't look where she was going. My Man has it. It is hereditary. And while I was constantly nagging him for YEARS to get tested and medicated for it, I've been stalling with K2. I didn't want to label her. I didn't want to medicate her. I didn't want her to think something was wrong with her. I've tried all sorts of things - all the natural things to try. Read the boks. We've cut out gluten, sugar, food colorings and preservatives. We've given her all sorts of natural supplements. I've let her do her school work while bouncing on a yoga ball. Nothing helps. Not long term anyways. She even has a check-list. But she forgets what she is doing while she is doing it

If she was in public school, it wouldn't have been noticed. But since I homeschool her and am with her 24/7/365, I notice it. This past month I just couldn't ignore it anymore. This is a VERY bright girl (although only 6) who reads better than her older sister but yet can't seem to focus on anything. Can't get her work done that should only take her 2 hours. It was taking 4 plus hours and a lot of tears and nagging. Neither one of us was very happy. So I made the doctor's appointment. We took her in and did the standard questionnaire. She has ADD. She needs medication. She is starting on the lowest dose (5mg) of Adderall that we can get. It only last 4 hours. Typically they'd give her XR to last 8 hours or take the regular Adderall twice a day. I just want something to help her get through her bookwork. Then she can be who she is without the medication. I actually had to show my license in order to pick up her prescription. Insane. I'm trying to focus on the positives of this.

The medication has side effects as well. Most commonly are loss of appetite (she already doesn't eat enough), stomach aches, leg cramps, depression, difficulty sleeping, and tics. Here's praying to the least amount of side effects as possible and the most amount of increased attentiveness as possible. I pray that this was the right decision for her. If not, guess we can stop it at anytime.