Candle By Night

Today is our 9th wedding anniversary! It's amazing to think all that has happened in nine years! (In September it will be 12 years since our first date). So, I wanted to take time to share some pictures with you. I have divided them up into groups: our engagement and our wedding.  ( this is a repost from a couple years ago ) I will first tell the story of our engagement. We had been together for 8 1/2 months when Hubby asked for my hand. And boy...was the proposal a good one. I had many friends jealous over this. That summer I was babysitting for 3 children and when I returned home from work I came home to an apartment filled (and I do mean FILLED!) with streamers and balloons. I think I had about a hundred balloons in my apartment and streamers were everywhere. On the table were a dozen yellow roses (one of my utmost favorites) and a box. What was inside that box you say......It was a gorgeous black dress that he picked out for me and instructions to put on the dress and meet hi...

I thought about making two separate posts, but I think it will be fine with just one. First up is Miss H's bridal shower. I am going to miss this girl. I already do (her family moved away). But the thought of this wonderful young lady getting married puts a huge smile on my face and makes me cry all at the same time. I didn't get as many pictures as I would have liked, but I did get a couple. (and some video of the music too)  The last wedding shower I attended was for Miss R . I wanted to do one for my sister last year, but I failed (it never happened. Sorry Sis) Anyway, this was a nice shower and had a good time visiting with friends. (Until the children got covered in mud, but I will get to that in a minute) Opening Gifts Next in line to get married (Miss B, not Special K) Enjoying the sunshine Playing in a puddle they were told not to and got splashed when the pony/cart when through it. Gross! The next day was the Mother/Daughter dinner at my Mother-in-Lo...

The Friday after Resurrection Sunday was a special night for the boys and me. You may remember the Princess Ball last year. Well this year it was the boys' turn. It was time for the Knights to have a special night with their Mama. The bad thing was that we had to wait almost 30 minutes longer than what was written on the tickets. Not good when Little E can't stand still for more than 2 minutes. It was pretty neat to see some of the older boys at the door to greet the guests. They thought this suit of armor was pretty cool.  Mr. Ornery himself What boy doesn't love a boomerang? I am just glad he didn't give any of the boys a chance to throw one. Someone could have been hurt. ;-) After we watched the demonstration of the boomerang and the didgeridoo we had a big meal. The boys sure loved the mini cheeseburgers. We were blessed with a talk from a son (soccer play for MVNU) and a mother (of 10 boys). It was a very nice evening that ended with the boys being knig...

Wow, a whole month since I posted last. Really? It can't have been that long......can it? I guess I have let "life" take control. Not good. My sister kindly reminded me that I needed to get a post up. (She is having withdrawal. :-) The day before Resurrection Sunday my parents came up to see us and bring the children some goodies. :-) Checking out all the goodies Getting help from Grandma Special K loves to go on walks!   Then after my parents left we went with my Mother-in-Love to the circus in town. I had to turn away for most of the first act because it made me so nervous. Especially since they did all of this inside of a building at the fairgrounds. He was just inches from the beams in the building. Aack! Big T was chosen to be apart of the hula hoop contest. Poor kid didn't have a chance. ;-)  Resurrection Sunday was wonderful (although a very long day). We attended sunrise service, breakfast, and the morning service. Then we had the church se...

My 6 year old! Okay, I should have posted this ages ago. I know, I know. Shame on me for not being able to catch up with posting. But at least I am getting to it now. ;-) She asked for a doll cake again, but requested that it be pink this time. When I look at the picture from last year (the blue) and this year I can't help but remember the final scene in sleeping beauty (the Disney version). She loved all of her presents but the ultimate present was this princess dress from Nana S. Of course Big T step right in front of me when I went to snap the picture! She loves playing princess and this was just the greatest thing. Nana S worked hard on getting this made and even has an injury to show for it. ;-) I don't have any better pictures of the rest of her gifts. Had a hard time keeping Big T out of the way! Crazy boy........  She has used her stationary from Grandma K a LOT since her birthday. This little girl absolutely loves to write letters. So, not a massive post abo...

Another wonderful item to review. (actually items....we received three things) When I saw these products come up for review I knew I had to get them for Little E. He loves to play with Sweet E, but we didn't have any boy action figures for him to use. Manhattan Toy sent Goalie Gavin and Slope Shreddin Shaun. Oh yeah, they also sent the Extreme Sports Zone. I wanted to get pictures of Little E with all of this but I never had a chance with everything that happened last week. Plus the fact that I can't get him to slow down! (haha) You can purchase these and many more from Manhattan Toys . You can also find them on FB . The action figures retail for $18 and the sports zone is $30. These are geared for boys ages 3-8 (3 years because of the smaller accessories like the soccer ball)  Little E was so happy to have these. Once he had them in his hand he didn't let go. Not even at bedtime. He took both his action figures with him to bed and they were the first thing he played ...

Most of you probably have noticed the first song that plays when you open up my blog. It's sort of become our family's song. When something else seems to go wrong I play this song and a smile comes to my face. If something happens at home and I send a text to Beloved that says, "Just another day in paradise" he knows that something happened but that it will be okay. Life isn't easy. Maybe it seems that way for some, but not for us. And...that's okay. The Lord has helped us through so much. If it wasn't for God I don't know how I would have made it through last week. I'm not perfect. I had a couple of breakdowns when it all seemed like too much, but everything was taken care of. Looking back I know that it was God. He provided everything we needed last week. He is good.....ALL THE TIME! As I look around the house at the cracks in the plaster, the leaking shut off valve, the cars (only one is running), and the piles of laundry... I can let it overwh...

Wow! What a week our family went through. And it's not even over yet. This is going to be a long story so just bear with me. We have needed most of our water pipes replaced for a long time. We finally had the money put back to get it done. And that was planned for this past Monday. No big deal......until........I was down in the basement and felt the need to take a look at the water heater. Why? I don't know, but when I did I found it had a leak. Not good. :-( So lets just add more onto the bill. I had no idea how we were going to pay for it, but God did. Little did I know that the Lord had already blessed us with a way to pay for the water heater. (Beloved informed me that God provided money for the water heater...after I had a freak out session ;-) Anyway, so I had no water for majority of the day on Monday while they replaced the pipes and water heater. Since it was cold I couldn't just spend the day at the park or on a hike. Thankfully my Father-in-love said it would b...

I can't believe it. It's almost impossible to believe that Sweet E went from this.......to...... . 1 week old 1 year old 2 years old 3 years old 4 years old 5 years old 5 1/2 years old  this. She has grown up so much! Happy 6th Birthday Sweetie! I love you so much. God has blessed our family by giving you to us. You are growing up into such a beautiful, sweet little lady. :-)