Aww, Bre - you take great pics. THANK YOU for sharing (well... letting me steal...) ;)

Bre titled this one "texting while driving - what a great babysitter." But I'd like to draw attention to the wheels of the golf cart... I don't think it was made for QUITE this many heathens!!

Ben, LOOK at Bre when she's taking a picture...

Craziness!!!

Aaahhhh -- NEW PICTURES!!! Thank you, Bre! (I stole them from her Facebook page) ;)

This is a night that Todd and I had to go out to dinner w/ friends (darn) ;) and I'd already planned for a couple boys to sleep over. Soooo... we enlisted Bre and Kari to babysit together. There were a LOT of kids. Look at Kari's face. :)

Btw, the little girl on the left is a neighbor who came over to join the chaos - she didn't sleep over. ;)

OH my goodness - so sad! :(

Sending up prayers for Steven Curtis Chapman and his family...

http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20201819,00.html

Hab. 3:19

He has made my feet like hinds' feet, and makes me walk on MY high places.

"God will cause us to walk on OUR high places... not on someone else's. So often we glance at others and their high places look so much better than ours. They have it made. Their families seem so all-together, their children so well-behaved, their marriages so peaceful, their ministries and work so ideal. But..."

He makes me walk on MY high places.

"Walk confidently on YOUR high places. Trust Him... thank Him..."

(portions from As Silver Refined by Kay Arthur)

This was taken in fall '03. First day of school... Sam to 1st grade, Isaac to Kdg. And Kate is about Ben's age. Man, it seems like so long ago!!!

Back when we 'only' had four :)

Another priceless picture...

I'm still stuck on my desktop since my laptop is dying (which also holds the last several years of photos! PRAY that I can get them off before it completely dies). So here are some "oldies but goodies"... enjoy! :)

Here's my bathing beauty at about 21 months old. I love how she's looking down - like she's critiquing her body. Yeah -- welcome to being a girl, honey... you'll probably never be completely happy w/ your body so just get over it now. :)

(update: Wed., 4-23-08... Kate noticed this picture today and blurted, "Oh, I look fat there." What'd I tell ya? That IS what she was thinking when I took the picture 4 years ago. I KNEW it!) ;)

On a lighter note...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=crQ7Y2alDxI&feature=related

(the sad thing is - I can see my boys inventing a game like "Dodge Brick" ... ahhh, boys... )

And this one is for my mom, the AI fan...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zfs3BJZxKkc&feature=related

Something to think about...

"God is a feeling experience, not a believing experience; and if your religion is a believing experience... if God, for you, is still about a belief, then it's not truly God." - Oprah

(is that scary or what?!)

And Jesus said "you are the light of the world"... did you know that's not about being a light in the dark? being a testimony? being a witness for Him? That verse is "you are the consciousness, the light in which the world is seen"... it's about the universal light, the light of our consciousness... WE are the light... WE are gods.

Oh my goodness -- so scary.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JW4LLwkgmqA

My laptop is dying - it has a virus - so I'm on the desktop and have VERY limited picture choices. Since I never did a "tribute" for Isaac's bday, here's a little taste of what it WOULD be if I COULD do it. My cute little boy.... he's about 7 in this picture...

One more quick post for today. I had to post this.... the Farrandersons being crazy. :) They had SO much fun together!!

Isaac took this picture (the chocolate cake on his face is Isaac's bday cake that G&G Anderson got so they could celebrate with him) -- anyway, he wanted me to post it b/c he's very proud of it. It IS a great one, Isaac! Thanks for taking it. :)

Happy Easter (sorry, no outside "springy" pics... there were about 5 inches of snow on the ground in Michigan) :)

People asked for Easter pics last week -- here they are!! (yes, Ben is bawling his eyes out)

View from widened front entry

View of french doors into study (un-painted/stained)

View from new dining area to the widened entry

This will be the view when you come in from the back yard

I can NOT believe the change from removing just two "little" walls!!! I really didn't think there was any space here - but there IS!! And this is just the beginning... I'm so excited now...

And yes, my husband had the house CLEAN when I got home. He even had pictures hung on bare drywall, he lit candles so it would smell good, and the flowers on the buffet are from him. He is UNbelievable!!

Ooohhh Katie Katie Katie

Where do I even begin??

Today I told Kate to go put a certain outfit on. Her reply... "Mom, can I please wear something cooler?" What?! COOLER?! Where did this come from? She said, "I mean, the jeans are okay, but I need a cooler top." Okay - go right ahead. This is what she came downstairs wearing. The shirt with the cropped pink camo jacket. Yes... cooler, indeed. "And Mom can you button it b/c it looks cooler that way." (again with the cooler) So as I'm buttoning it, she says, "I want to be a ROCK STAR when I grow up!"

WHAT?!!

Now, no good Christian mother wants to hear her precious little daughter say she wants to be a rock star when she grows up! I was appalled! After I laughed my head off, I said, "No... you don't want to be a rock star. Why would you want to be a rock star?"

"Because I wanna

ROCK!...

OUT!"

Oh man - I laughed so hard. She wants to Rock... Out. Well, okay then -- who doesn't? :)

Okay -- and now on to the picture.

We're having a lock-in at our house tonight with some of the boys from the church youth group. She just KEEPS talking about this one particular young man.... CONSTANTLY!! She said, "Mom, I'm not afraid to talk to ___ anymore." My thought was "Kate, when have you EVER been afraid to speak?" And then, "Mom, can I draw a picture of ____?" My thought, "When have you EVER WANTED to sit down and draw a picture?" Kate is not your typical sit-still-and-color-a-pretty-picture girl... and never... NEVER has she taken so much time and care to draw a picture! Here is her picture...

The certain young man who shall remain nameless is on the left. He's very large and has ENORMOUS eyes! I'm not sure why...

Kate is on the right and is very very small. I'm hoping this picture doesn't show up someday when she's in therapy b/c I'm sure a psychologist could have a field day with that one.

I thought it was adorable b/c she actually has them holding hands. She obviously views him as her protector or something. :) And the sweet thing is, if you knew this young man, you'd see why. He's very sweet to younger kids and interacts so nicely with them. He actually SEES them and pays attention to them. So Kate has picked a good one. :)

Oh, my Katie-girl. You're growing up. :(

Isaac's awesome fort. (that's him crawling through there) :)

Brothers... just hangin' out watching TV in the warm cozy family room while a blizzard rages outside.