Katie Bug

I wanted to take a minute to thank all of you tonight who have prayed for our baby, Katie.  She is a sweet girl with a strong personality :) 

If you don't know, Katie has been colicky and has acid reflux and she's been quite a lot to handle.  Our first 2 children were so easy to take care of so we were quite surprised to get one that wasn't.  Katie is a sweet girl and so fun but when she's mad, she's mad and she wants everyone to know it. 

When she was a newborn she slept decently for the first few weeks.  However, after about 2 months she had gotten to the point where she never wanted to sleep and cried all the time.  Everyone suggested we take her for a ride in the car to get her to sleep and that was the worst thing ever!  She would scream a blood curdling scream that was so loud your head would ring.  Every week we'd drive to church 3 times a week and the whole way there and the whole way back she would scream.  It was awful!  By the time I got to church I was near tears and then she'd scream all through church.   This has gone on since last July. 

It's been an adjustment for Molly and Ryan too. It isn't easy going from a very calm house to listening to your baby sister scream all the time and your mom and dad have to give her so much attention to try to get her to stop.

The last few weeks have gotten better!  She's finally starting to enjoy life a little more :)  She's learned to crawl and pull up on things and is trying to cruise while holding onto the couch, furniture, walls, whatever she can hold on to.  She's screaming much less and 3 weeks ago was the first time she didn't scream during the church service in the nursery. 

I am writing all this to say THANK YOU so much to all of you who have prayed for her and for us!  I have been nothing short of exhausted for months and Andy has been too. Some of you have seen things I've written on facebook and sent me inbox messages to tell me you understood and you were praying.  There were days when I'd come to church and ask my Sunday school class to pray for her.  I know so many of you did.  My pastor has continuously prayed for her and for us and I am so thankful for that.  You nursery workers were AWESOME!  I cannot tell you how much I appreciate you listening to her and telling me to get out of the nursery and go sit in church.  I needed that!  Thank you!  I am so thankful to be a part of a church that has such a great nursery full of workers who love children.  Hannah Hawkins has watched Katie and listened to her SCREAM just so we could go eat dinner!  Thanks Hannah! 

I want to say thanks again for all your prayers and I know they work.  Thank you so much for caring about us and our kids and Katie!  Once you've been through something really hard, you stop and think about how thankful you are for friends and family who love you and have prayed for you.  THANK YOU!

What's Going On With The Appleby's

Molly and Ryan



Hi Everyone!  I haven't posted in a few weeks so I wanted to bring you up to speed in the lives of The Appleby's!  With 3 kids we are nothing short of insane, exhausted and entertained!  Here's a rundown of what's going on in our lives.  Before I begin, if you've never been to our blog before, be sure to check out some of the old posts.  Some of my favorites are  "Why Won't God Give Me a Rice Krispie Treat", "Johnny Appleseed Never Said It Better" and there are lots of others about our kids, our first 10 years of marriage, etc.

Andy with the kids.  I took the picture so I wasn't in it!



Andy certainly enjoyed Christmas!  He is worse than the kids I think.  He has been spending his time, Christmas money and gift certificates wisely... LOL!  He's been buying all kinds of goodies on Amazon!  I think he's gotten every obscure DVD a person could find.  He also got a new iPod touch and he loves it.  I must say it's fantastic and Andy, being the good father he is, even downloaded the new theme song to "Barbie and the Fashion Fairytale". 

Molly Ruth

Molly is growing like a weed!  She's 5 now.  I cannot believe she is 5!!!  I seriously feel like she was just born.  The time has gone so fast.  She absolutely loves Pre-K these days...quite a stark difference from her sobbing first month of school.  She's writing everything, learning cursive, counts and writes numbers to 100, learning to spell and enjoying writing out sentences and stories.  They are spelled the way a 5 year old would spell them, but they are cute sentences and stories.  After months of Katie's screaming, she's finally starting to like her.  Tonight she gave Katie a bottle for the first time and loved every minute of it! 

Ryan



Ryan, I'm tired just writing his name.  Ryan's name should have been "All Boy Appleby"!  He is exhausting in every sense of the word.  His favorite past time is pretending to be a superhero.  Most of the time he's Spiderman, but sometimes enjoys being Wolverine, Silver Surfer or Green Lantern.  He's decided he wants to have a Silver Surfer Birthday party when he turns 4.  I'm not sure how I'm going to decorate for that theme.  I do know that he's invited nearly all of Douglas County AND Champaign County to his birthday party as well as the waitresses as every restaurant and retail establishment we frequent.  I don't know how I'll get a cake that big.  Ryan has such a big heart, he is so sweet and loving, but just a wild animal.  Since Katie has been  born, it's been an adjustment for him.  When Molly left for school he lost his best friend and I don't think he's adjusted to life with a colicky baby sister!  I love spending time with Ryan, listening to his stories (which are great) and just being his mom. 

Katie



Katie is growing by leaps and bounds.  In just a few days she'll be 8 months old!  I cannot believe she has grown so fast!  She's gone from being a cute little lump to a person with a personality who is passionate about moving!  She wants to crawl and walk so badly.  She sees Molly and Ryan moving and it's driving her crazy that she can't be with them.  We've FINALLY gotten her to take a bottle which I thought would never happen.  Katie has been a lot of work, she cries a lot, never sleeps and isn't happy very often, but with her I KNOW I am loved and needed... all the time!  We're looking forward to her being able to walk or at least crawl and for her to talk.  She gets so frustrated.  I think she's going to be JUST LIKE MOLLY!  Molly was a very, very, very easy baby, but she has a mind of her own and you are not going to change it!  I'm pretty sure Katie got that from her sister....or did they both get that from me????  Hmmm....

Me with Katie - Yes, this picture is 5 months old!



And me, I've been busy doing all the things I do.  I really enjoyed Christmas!  Santa Clause came to our house on Christmas Eve and it was so fun to see the kids' faces when he was standing at the door.  I've been working on our other blog A LOT.  I'm sure most of you have read it, but if not, it's The Frugal Family and we teach people how to save money on everything in their everyday lives.  The blog has been a success and we are really enjoying it!  I just had a birthday and turned 32.  32!?!?!  Really?  I cannot believe that.  I remember being 20 years old and running around with Andy in his truck, having a blast.  Who would have thought when we were 20 years old that we'd one day live in a funeral home in central Illinois with 3 sweet kids, both teaching Sunday school classes and serving in Awanas?  Andy is a deacon in our church...when did we grow up?  Isn't it funny to think about those things... when you realize you are a real adult... you are the age your parents were when you were a kid?  I'm just taking life one day at a time right now with a fussy baby.  Trying to rest when we can and hoping to get my hair cut soon...

I hope you all are doing well!  I better get off of here..we're getting ready for an overnigh visit from Papa Jeff tomorrow and we're excited!

Thanks for reading!
Misty

"My Favorite Things About Christmas"

Molly and Ryan leaving food for the reindeer last year.  They left carrots and celery and of course,

water in case they were thirsty from the long flight. 

This is just a personal post about Christmas... my random thoughts. No particular point...just sharing.

I just love Christmas! It's the most wonderful time of the year!!! I love giving gifts, spending time with family, seeing the excitement on my kid's faces when Santa has been here and most importantly, celebrating the birth of our Savior!
This Sunday we're singing a song in our church choir called "Rose of Bethlehem". The chorus is "Born to glorify the Father, Born to wear the thorns for me!" How beautiful. We've sung this song before and I've always liked it but this year, for some reason or another, I've become particularly fond of it. I actually think it's becoming one of my favorite Christmas songs. Jesus was born to glorify God and to die for me...and you. He was born to die. Absolutely the most wonderful gift we could receive.

Besides the birth of Jesus, I must admit, I love Santa Clause....obviously, not the same was as I love Jesus, but I love the "magic" Santa brings. I just love his red suit, his rosy cheeks and the fun he brings. Before I go on, let me be clear: Jesus is real, Santa is not....yes, I know that and I am not comparing them. Some Christians despise the thought of Santa, thinking that he takes away from the true meaning of Christmas. I must tell you that I can understand your point. Absolutely. People get carried away with Santa, give their kids thousands of dollars in gifts that they don't need (they must not be frugal like us) and don't even bother to remember what Christmas is about!

With that said, please remember that my priorities are straight :)

I want to share with you the other things I love about Christmas!!! First of all, my favorite Christmas movie is "White Christmas"! Please tell me you've seen it. It's soooo good. Bing Crosby and Danny Kaye, Rosemary Clooney and...that other lady who's name I do not know! They dance and sing and perform all these wonderful songs and dances at an Inn in Vermont. I don't think there's anything better than that movie! I just love the time setting, the actors, the characters they play, the setting, the story...and the list goes on. My other favorite holiday movie is "Home Alone" because I always watched it with my dad and I don't ever remember my dad laughing so much as when we would watch that movie. Luckily for my dad, I think my son may be the next "KEVIN!!!" and he'll get to experience more of those laughs in person in the next few years!

I love, love, love Christmas caroling and music. Last year we got to carol with our community group on a wagon and ride around town singing to shut ins, elderly and just about anyone who would listen. Tonight, the group went caroling and I have a baby who isn't feeling so well so we stayed home. I was bummed but luckily for us, the group came to our house and sang to us! THAT was fun! Molly was running around the house in excitement and Ryan was blowing them kisses!As a child, we would go for our GA's group (Girls in Action missions group for girls) and our children's programs at church would go carol at the nursing homes. It just makes people smile when you show up at their door and sing them Christmas songs.

When I was little, we'd all go to my Aunt Irene and Uncle Wendall's house on Christmas Eve. This was the big tradition. We would eat and sing, eat and sing, visit, eat and sing...until we couldn't eat or sing anymore! I love to eat and sing and this is probably where I got this...although my dad says his side of the family can eat and sing too! I think I just got a double dose so I was bound to love both! My favorite part of those Christmas Eve get togethers was all of my family, gathered around Aunt Irene's piano, singing Silver Bells and White Christmas, Silent Night and so many others. My Aunt Colleen playing the piano (she's the best) and hearing all the harmony in my family's voices! Oh my goodness, there is nothing like it. I could literally cry just thinking of those memories! How blessed I was as a child to get to experience such a wonderful Christmas tradition!

Now that I'm a grown up with three kids of my own, I can see how excited they get. I wrapped presents this afternoon and put them under the tree. When they came downstairs to see the presents their eyes gleamed with excitement! Molly could hardly contain herself and she, of course, told me which packages were hers and which paper and ribbons she liked best! Tomorrow I get to go to her class party. This is her first year in school and she's having a class party and I get to go enjoy it with her. She's so excited and so am I!\

Ooohhh....and I love Christmas trees! We have 5...well 6 if you count the little grapevine one in our kitchen (thanks Ashley) and I guess you could say 7 if you count the lighted grapevine one on our front porch! I love Christmas lights and sitting with a cup of cocao and a blanket with the lights off and just relaxing by the light of the tree!

Another thing I'd like to say is "THANK YOU" to my dad who always let me open one present early! That was so nice! AND, a big thanks to my mom for not using much tape so I could always open my presents and re-wrap them just to see what I got a few days early!

Okay, enough rambling about Christmas past and all that I love about Christmas! I hope you all have a fantastic Christmas. I hope that you enjoy your families, make traditions of your own and most importantly, remember the birth of Jesus and teach it to your children! Remember that HE was "Born to glorify the Father, Born to wear the thorns for me".

Oh my, Oh my, Oh my!

Oh my goodness!  We started a money saving blog last week called The Frugal Family and it has been crazy ever since!  I have been figuring out deals, coupons, where to buy what, where to get freebies, etc. 

Our internet has been down for a few days so I've had more time to relax and this song by Lenny Leblanc kept going through my head.  I want to share this post with you from The Frugal Family.  If you have questions, please feel free to ask!

Misty


I know this is a money saving blog, teaching you how to be a Frugal Family. However, first and foremost, I am a Christian. It's been 6 days since we set up this blog and right at 2,000 people have viewed this blog. I want to make sure you know that there is a Savior and His name is Jesus. He is the Son of God and died on the cross to save you from your sins. Sin separates us from God and the blood of Jesus on the cross covers our sins. His blood allows us to approach God because it covers our sin. I have had this song stuck in my head all day. If you don't know me, I love to sing so music is such an important part of my life.


Here are the lyrics to a song by Lenny Leblanc. I wanted to post the previous paragraph before I posted this song. If you don't know Christ, I hope you find a relationship with Him. One day, every knee will bow and every tongue confess that Jesus is Lord!
Princes and paupers
Sons and daughters
Kneel at the throne of grace
Losers and winners
Saints and sinners
One day will see His face

And we all bow down
Kings will surrender their crowns
And worship Jesus
For He is the love
Unfailing love
He is the love of God

Summer and winter
The mountains and rivers
Whisper our Savior's name
Awesome and holy
A friend to the lonely
Forever His love will reign

He's the light of the world
And Lord of the cross


And we all bow down
Kings will surrender their crowns
And worship Jesus
Worship Jesus
Worship Jesus
For He is love
Unfailing love
He is the Love of God

Call Me Crazy!

Word to the wise: This is not a typical Misty post.  Don't read this if you aren't serious about your faith.  It will probably just make you mad and make you think I'm a good two shoes... which I am not.  I am just serious about the things of God.  I have made just as many mistakes as most, if not more!  I am a sinner and thankfully, have been saved by grace!  Without the grace of God, I would be a hopeless individual headed through life blinded to the things of God and would have no hope apart from the hope of salvation! 

If you are a Christian, surely  you can relate to me.  Have you ever said something to someone, shared a testimony with someone, stood up for your faith and people look at you like you are crazy???  That's how I've felt this week.  If you stand up for something you know is wrong, SATAN is going to try to knock you back down.  To get you to refute what you just said, to change your mind, change your tune or change your status!  That's satan wanting you to not be used by God.  It's discouraging to have people look at you like you're a nutcase or a prude because you are opposed to sin.  Recently I made a comment about a Facebook game and someone replied, "I'm sure even the man upstairs enjoys a good game every now and then!"   HOLD UP!  Please!  God is a holy, righteous and just God!  He is perfect, the creator of the universe, ALL that ever was and is to come!  HE IS!  Or as He said, "I AM"!  Can you believe that we, as a society have reduced GOD to being "the man upstairs who enjoys a good game every now and then?"  I know that God loves us, I do believe that God wants us to ENJOY LIFE, to live, to laugh, to love, to find joy in everything we do!  I think most of you know that I LOVE to laugh!  It's probably one of the things I'm best at.  I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE to laugh.  No one can deny that.  I love to laugh and joke.  However,  NOT at the cost of sinning! 

So, my response to anyone who doesn't like my comment on Facebook or the way I live my life or who thinks I'm crazy is this:  You can call me crazy.  Read these lyrics.  This is a song called Crazy  by MercyMe.  It has, for a very long time, been one of my favorite songs.  Today, I just felt like sharing this with you.  Maybe you feel you can be called "Crazy" too!  Here are the lyrics and there's a link in this post in case you're interested in downloading it.  It's on the Spoken For cd. 

Why I would I spend my life longing for the day that it would end..
Why would I spend my time pointing to another man..
Isn't that crazy


How can I find hope in dying, with promises unseen..
How can I learn your way is better
In everything I'm taught to be..
Isn't that crazy


I have not been called to the wisdom of this world..
But to a God who's calling out to me..
And even though the world may think
I'm losing touch with reality
It would be crazy
To choose this world over eternity


And if I boast let me boast
Of filthy rags made clean
And if I glory let me glory
In my Savior's suffering
Isn't that crazy

And as I live this daily life
I trust you for everything
And I will only take a step
When I feel You leading me
Isn't that crazy


I have not been called to the wisdom of this world..
But to a God who is calling out to me..
And even though the world my think
I'm losing touch with reality
It would be crazy
To choose this world over eternity
Call me crazy
You can call me crazy
Call me crazy

It would be crazy to choose this world over eternity!

Why Won't God Give Me A Rice Krispie Treat?

And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called, according to HIS purpose. Romans 5:8

I know, I know, what a goofy name for a Blog post, but you know me...I like catchy titles.

Our lives have changed so much in the last few months with Molly going off to Pre-K! We have all missed her so much, but I especially have missed her! Today I decided I'd get her out of school before lunch and she could spend extra time with me today. Before school started, her teacher referred to this as "Mommy Time" which was okay because she's in Pre-K.

I decided today would be the day. She came home and we ate lunch. After Andy finished his work, Molly and I headed to Champaign. In my mind I thought this was going to be great, but I also forgot what my friend Kristina told me. She warned me that Fridays were especially whiney. The kids are little and it's been a long week and Friday is usually the day they are just plain worn out. Molly was excited to go, but a little whiny and grumpy. She wasn't particularly pleased with anything I wanted to take her to do and she especially wasn't pleased that I wasn't taking her to Steak and Shake, her favorite restaurant. I know she was tired and she can't possibly understand that we just could not do it. I HAD to feed Katie at noon and therefore, we had to be at home at lunchtime. We went and she seemed to get better as the afternoon went on.

When we got home, Andy had more work to do before I made supper so I fed Katie and Molly and Ryan played. I am almost certain they got into 4,325,908 fights, yelled at each other double that many times and got in trouble at least 40 times. All that in about an hour and fifteen minutes.

At dinner, we had Molly's favorite! Breakfast! Cinnamon rolls, scrambled eggs and bacon (for the rest of us who will actually eat meat). We all enjoyed it and quickly after finishing decided we should make Rice Krispie Treats. Molly and Ryan LOVE to help in the kitchen. They help me with almost any bread or dessert I make. While they were helping, they weren't really listening, getting too close to the stove, fighting, trying to eat all the stuff while I was trying to get it in the bowl, climbing on chairs, climbing on the countertops, etc. I told them that was enough and they could go find something to do while I cleaned up. They decided they'd watch a little of their favorite cartoon, Tom and Jerry! They kicked each other, wrested around and yelled at each other and Andy told them and told them and told them to stop. And then it happened! He walked over to them, told them to go to the bathroom and get ready for their baths. He told them they'd have a bath and go to bed. No RICE KRISPIE TREATS! Oh my goodness, they wailed and whined and thought the world was ending! How were they going to make it til tomorrow without a Rice Krispie Treat?

Shortly after that, while Andy was giving the kids a bath, Katie was really fussy so I wrapped her up in a blanket and took her outside to rock on the porch. It was such a beautiful night. Quiet, cool, a few stars in the sky and I was holding a sleeping baby! How peaceful. I started thinking about the Rice Krispie Treats. I started thinking about Andy being a father. I started thinking about how those two things strangely enough go together.

God doesn't always give us a Rice Krispie Treat when we want it. So many times in our lives, God doesn't give us what we want. We don't get everything when we want when we want it. Andy knew that giving the kids a Rice Krispie Treat was not in their best interest. If they were already having a hard time listening to him and already had been in trouble, then why would he give them a sugary treat to make them even more likely to fuss and whine? I realized instantly that that is how God is! GOD is a perfect Father! So many times we think we know what is best for us. We think we know what we want and how wonderful it's going to be when we get it. However, God knows the big picture. He knows what is going to benefit us and what is not. He knows that giving us everything we WANT could cause us to mess up later or cause us heartache so He doesn't give it to us. As children, we don't understand and get mad and whine to God or gripe to our friends or say God doesn't care what we want! The truth is that God knows what we NEED and that's more important than what we want! Aren't you thankful for a Heavenly Father that loves us that much? He doesn't give in to our every command. He is omnipotent, omniscient and omnibenevolent (as we discussed in Sunday school last week). He is perfect and His plan is perfect...from the beginning of time to the end of the world.

And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose. Romans 5:8

It should make us, as Believers, thrilled to know that every time we don't get the Rice Krispie Treat that we ask our Father for that He's not just being mean to us. He knows what's best for us and our lives! Remember that the next time you don't get your Rice Krispie Treat. I've been reminded of it a lot lately and am thankful for God and his PERFECT goodness!