Update on Life - Homeschooling, Disney, Katie and Everything in Between!

Oh my goodness!  I haven't posted in so long!  Since June, as a matter of fact and so much has happened in that time.  Molly and Ryan started homeschooling in July ( the 18th, I believe) and life has been crazy since then.  Well, life at The Appleby House is always crazy, but with the Frugal Family blog growing and doing the whole tv thing AND homeschooling, I am tired!  I must say however, that it has been enjoyable.

Just to bring you up to speed on our homeschool year, we started in July out of sheer boredom.  Molly and Ryan were fighting and you can only spend so many hours a day playing outside.  I mean, you'd think with all of that fresh air and at least 8 hours outdoors that they'd wear themselves down and enjoy their time indoors, but that didn't happen here.  I knew giving them a few hours a day of structured time would be best for them. 

I started Ryan  out doing some workbooks.  I realized quickly that I needed to slow down a bit with Ryan.  I was teaching him upper and lower case letters and trying to get him to write using lower case letters and I quickly realized that I should be very happy that he was writing his uppercase letters so well as a 4 year old.  It's funny the things you learn about yourself when you homeschool!  He knows all of the letters and all of the sounds they make, all of the shapes, colors, how to count, etc. that a 4 year old in preschool should know.  My goal with Ryan is to have him reading before Kindergarten, so we have some time.  I am also starting to focus more on unit studies with Ryan.  We just finished our Fall Leaves section and we're starting the Firefighter unit on Friday.  (Because we go to homeschool group on Thursdays).  Using unit studies provides him with a more focused learning experience and although he's learning about leaves, he also learns colors, counting, letters, etc. based on a leaf theme.   The same will happen with the Firefighter Unit.  When we started homeschooling, Ryan wanted to be in on all the action and after a few weeks learned that 3 hours of homeschool time was a little boring for him.  I bring him down now when Molly starts and we have a Bible lesson, work on Awana books and then start our math lesson.  Ryan counts things for me, we play matching games with numbers, etc.  Then we have Handwriting, which Ryan hated until I realized I was pushing him too hard (it's much more enjoyable now) and then we have Phonics time.  Then, Ryan is done.  He likes to play or do a puzzle.  Sometimes I let him watch a video.  I cannot expect him to sit in a chair at a table and move very little for three hours.  Of course, the kids play outside or in the funeral home for most of the afternoon so they get plenty of P.E. time!

Molly really enjoys school and is excelling!  Of course, that is Molly's personality.  She thinks she needs to be the best at everything and everything is a competition.  She is so proud of herself when she writes a letter better than Ryan does and I quickly explain to her that it is not a competition and that he's doing great!  I am working hard with Molly to teach her thoughtfulness and encouragement.  I was really proud of her for last week for cheering on Ryan as he wrote his numbers so well.  This was a big achievement for Molly to be happy for him because he did so well without having to be told that she, herself, had done a fantastic job!  AND, I am totally serious when I write that.  She gets her competitive side from me, I admit it.  So, at least I can understand where she's coming from and try to help her tame it a bit :)  Molly is telling time to the hour, counting coins, writing addition sentences, using a ruler and reading like crazy!  Today, in fact, she earned her first Book It (Pizza Hut) Certificate.  I had her read a certain number of books to me and when she filled up her list, she got the certificate for a FREE personal pan pizza at Pizza Hut.  She is very proud of her hard work.  Next week she'll start learning fractions.  When did Kindergartners start learning fractions???  But, it's in her book so I'm going to teach it to her!  Molly will be done with all of her Kindergarten work in December so I'm going to move her up to 1st Grade in January.  Do any of you have any advice on curriculum?  She's using Bob Jones right now, which is good, but I'm not sure that it's what's best for her. 

Katie of course is not homeschooling.  She's keeping us busy as she walks around the house like a tornado!  She's a wild woman!  She's into everything, knocking everything down and having a blast doing it.  She's starting to talk a little more... she would talk A LOT more if I just took her pacifier away from her but she goes and finds another one.  Katie is really into books right now.  She'll bring lots of books and plop in your lap and hit the book until you read.  And like all kids, she has her favorites like "Baby Bear, Baby Bear" that she wants read over and over.  She's rotten to the core and cute as a bug!  I am so glad we had a 3rd child!

Andy and I have been keeping busy with all kinds of things.  Andy has been busy with the funeral home and recently resigned his position on City Council.  He's trying to focus more on things he enjoys doing at church.

I have been keeping busy by blogging all the time, teaching classes and doing a weekly spot on WAND 17 in Decatur.  I am so happy that October 18 is my last class for this year.  I'm really tired and looking forward to relaxing and seeing my kids a little more. 

Oh, we went to Disney world a few weeks ago, I forgot about that!  HaHa!  That was VERY exciting.  The kids didn't know we were going.  We took Andy's mom with us and had so much fun!  It was nice having a 3rd set of hands, it made the adult/child ratio 3:3!  That was helpful!  The kids were very excited.  We went to every single park and we did it all!  It was so fun and we already can't wait to go back again! 

We're also on the last road to debt-freedom!  We are super, duper, super, duper excited about this!  Just a little more to go and we'll be there!  THIS is very exciting news! 

I  hope you're all doing well and I hope I can post again sooner than later in the future!

Miss America - Molly Ruth Appleby

Well, here she is, Miss America.  Oh wait, it's just Molly Appleby, Little Miss Newman.  She sure thinks she's Miss America.  Tonight she told Andy that she's Molly Appleby but he can just call her Little Miss Newman.  Doesn't that sound like something Molly would say???  I think we're in trouble!

Summer Time is HERE!

Well, it's finally hot and summer time is here!  The kids are enjoying every minute of being outside, playing in the pool and at the park and have started all the summer activities one family can handle!

This week started the library summer reading program.  Molly and Ry go on Thursday mornings to a class taught by Mrs. Mahee (McGee) and Molly was so excited that she had an actual unicorn watch and earrings!  Katie is going to the lapsit class taught by one of our favorite people, Ms. Lynn.  She gets to sit and hear stories and she colored her first picture last week.  It was a masterpiece and I'm sure she is very gifted (wink, wink). 

We're also in the midst of VBS this week!  Fun, Fun, Fun!  The kids have been singing some great songs all about loving God more!  I love hearing them sing and I love it when they tell me what they've learned.  I am so thankful for the teachers who take the time to teach my kids - and the other 20 preschool aged children in that room!  Yikes! 

Katie is learning to say more words and just had her first birthday last month!  She's got 8 teeth and goes a mile a minute. 

Ryan is just as much fun as ever.  He's reallllly into watching Scooby Doo and he and Molly love to pretend they're the "Gang" solving mysteries.

We're all getting excited about homeschooling too.  We've got our table, storage cabinet, curriculum, posters and just about everything we need for our classroom, with the exception of our computer which is next on our list.

We also bought a pool pass to the Oakland pool for the summer so we're hoping to go over and check it out a few times next week and hopefully the kids will learn to swim this summer.

We're planning a secret trip to Disney this fall.  We can hardly wait!!!  We're staying at Disney and bought the Disney dining plan.  Andy and I are so excited that we can't stand it.  We're keeping it a secret though for several reasons.  First, to surprise them and second, because we don't want to hear everyday from now until then "Are we going to Disney today?"

We are ever so blessed.  Go has been so good and so gracious to us.  We are so thankful for such a wonderful and loving church family.  Not much time goes by before I am again reminded of how great God is and how wonderful he was to make us a part of the First Baptist Church in Atwood.  "Truly blessed" would be an understatement.

I hope you're all having a fantastic summer!

Misty

A Letter from Pa and Ma Olsen (Andy and Misty) About Homeschooling.....

Some of you might have heard the rumor that we're going to home school... and the rumor is true.  So many people have a misconstrued idea of what homeschooling is and how it works.  Because I have a degree in Persuasive Speech Communication, I often feel the need to explain myself.  So here goes.

I first want to tell you that we're not homeschooling because of our school district or the teachers in our district.  Molly has an awesome teacher right now.  If you don't know, Molly is 5.  She will be in Kindergarten next year.  Mrs. Harbaugh is her teacher and she is awesome and has taught Molly so much.  The teacher's aide in Molly's classroom is a lady we loved long before school started.  The two Kindergarten teachers are also great teachers and I'm sure would do a wonderful job! 

We are not homeschooling to hide our kids from the world.  A lot of home schoolers don't want their children to see or hear anything.  We obviously do not want our children exposed to filth, but that's not why we're dong this.  I think it's ever so important to teach our children to be "in the world and not of it".  If you don't know what that means it simply that we want our children to be able to be a part of this world and function well in it, just not act like the rest of the world.  We hope they learn Biblical principles and take those principles out into the world and make a difference.  We are not, however, going to hide them in a bomb shelter in the basement with hopes that they never meet children from the outside world! 

I also want you to know that just in case you're confused, not all home school kids are social weirdos!  If that's what you think, you are confused.  We'll be taking our kids to the home school group that meets in Champaign every week.  There are over 200 families involved in this home school group... that's a lot of kids!  They'll also be taking music, swimming, dance and other classes!  We won't tuck them away in the house forever with the hopes of keeping them here with us until they're 30 and the girls' hair can grow all the way down to their ankles and then courting them off to the preacher boy or sweet little gal (in Ryan's case) from the next town.   We want our kids to be capable of social interaction and to be well rounded kids who grow up in a normal home and can function as well educated, socially active adults in our society who most importantly love God and follow His commands.

Another point I have to share is that Illinois home school laws are lax!  If you ever met someone who home schools and it seems like all they do is watch Sesame Street for a few hours a day, you might be right.  Illinois has very few laws regarding home schooling and you don't even have to test your children.  I hope if you're reading this you know this won't fly with me.  We have already purchased our curriculum from Bob Jones University Press, have our entire year planned out, including start and finish day (in May 2012), fall break and spring break, unit studies for every week, field trips and just about everything in between... all written nicely in my teacher's lesson planner.  I know, I'm a nerd!

Quite simply... we are doing this because we know this is what's best for our children.  We want them to have a great education, to be well rounded kids and to have fun!  We just think homeschooling is the best route for us.  I am not saying we'll do it forever, but for the time being, this is it. 

We are super excited so please pray for us as we start this adventure!  We think it's going to be great!  

Sincerely, 

Ma and Pa Olsen

Little House on the Prairie

Just kidding, just kidding... I just had to throw that in there!

Why Today Is One of the Best Days of My Life!

Today started as any ordinary day.  We got up, got Molly off to Pre-K, got Katie and Ryan ready and went to playgroup at the grade school.  After that, I got a headache and rested for a while.  I blogged and then we got Molly from school.  My headache got worse... boo!  Then it was time for Awanas to start!  The whole way there I had such a bad headache that I thought I was going to throw up in the van.  I prayed and asked God to help my head.  Being in a room with 80 other people can get very loud and isn't great for a headache.  By about 6:30 my head started feeling better.  I was sitting in the Awana office and I could hear the Cubbies lesson being taught, where my two oldest kids were.  As I listened to the lesson, I thought to myself, I bet one of those kids will accept Christ tonight as their Savior!  I could hear the lesson and I could hear their responses and they were "getting it". 

For the last year or so, Molly, my oldest daughter who is 5, has been asking me about Jesus, God, heaven, hell, the devil, lambs, The Lamb and even about atonement and why someone would have to die for our sins.  I know that's a lot for a kid her age, but this is the kid who could write her name when she was two and had 150 animals memorized when she was just over 18 months.  I have always been able to talk to her about everything.  When we have talked about Jesus and salvation in the past, she always tells me she understands it all but when she's 8 she's going to ask Jesus in her heart.  I always responded, "Whenever you want to, you can!"  and I would leave it at that.  It's not my job to "save" her or convince her of her need for salvation.  It's the Holy Spirit's job to make her realize she needs a Savior. 

So back to Awanas tonight... one of her teachers came and got me and told me that Molly listened to the lesson and before the lesson was over she was raising her hand and saying she needed to ask Jesus into her heart TONIGHT and she told her teacher at least 4 more times that as soon as she saw her Mom she was going to ask Jesus into her heart! 

Of course, I was thrilled.  I have had the opportunity to tell other people about Jesus many times and have had the privilege of leading many people in the sinner's prayer.  Let me just say, those times were awesome, but when it's your child, it's unlike anything else!  To know that my child understands that she's a sinner and that Jesus died on the cross to pay for her sins, is a beautiful thing.  I've been praying for her salvation and the salvation of my other children since before I had even conceived children!  I know what a difference it makes in life to have Christ and I want that for all 3 of my children!  It, of course, is their choice to follow Christ in life or not, but I pray today and everyday that they do!  It's a wonderful thing to be a Christian!  Molly left church tonight telling everyone that she was so excited!  She told them she asked Jesus into her heart and she was now a Christian!

You might have read all this and wondered, what does it take for a person to go to heaven?  Let me tell you that you don't have to know everything and you don't have to know every word of the Bible.  You don't have to be perfect.  You can be a nasty, filthy sinner.  We all are!  Any sin is awful in the eyes of God.  However, Jesus paid the price for that and made a way for you and me to be forgiven!  Please keep reading... all of you :)

The Bible says, "For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:23). That means you are a sinner and I am a sinner. ALL are sinners. First, we have to ADMIT we are sinners to God. Anything that we do in life that is against God's will is a sin.

The Bible says, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved" (Acts 16:31). You must BELIEVE that He is the Christ, the Son of the Living God. You must believe that He died on the cross for you to save you from your sins. Someone had to pay your debt. God is a HOLY and righteous God. He cannot have sin in His presence. In order for us to ever be with God, someone had to pay for our sins. Jesus did that for you and for me. He died on the cross, an innocent man and He was God, and He paid for our sins. He was buried and three days later rose again.

The Bible says, "If you CONFESS with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved" (Romans 10:9). That means that you have to confess it with your mouth. If you are saved, you will want to tell others what the Lord has done for you. That Jesus died on the cross to save you from your sins. You will want others to know because they too, like you and I, need to hear that there is Saving Grace in this world.

What the Bible does not say:
The Bible does not say that being a good person gets you into heaven. The Bible says "For by grace you are saved through faith; and not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast" (Ephesians 2:8-9). This means that our good works cannot get us into heaven. Only by grace are we saved and that is the grace of God.

The Bible does not say, if you go to church, you will go to heaven. If you go to the chicken house, you are not a chicken. If you go to McDonald's you are not a McFly Guy or Grimmace. If you go to church, that does not make you a Christian. You should go to church if you are a Christian. The Bible does say, "Do not forsake the assembling of yourselves" in Hebrews 10:25. However, if you attend church your entire life and never actually choose to follow Christ with your words, life, and actions, you are not saved.

The Bible does not say that knowing Scripture will get you into heaven. There are lots of verses to back this one up, but to put it plain and simple....The devil knows Scripture. The devil has lived in heaven before. The devil is a fallen angel. Just because you know Scripture and know about God and know what heaven is does not mean that you're going to heaven. I KNOW Satan will not be there!

The answer to the question is: You have to believe in the Lord, Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior. You have to ADMIT, BELIEVE and CONFESS.

I'm sure if you're reading this, you know us very well. We really do believe everything we've just written. We put this on our blog because if you're reading this, we're most certain that we love you and God has allowed you to be in our lives and us to be in your lives. We are telling you this because we don't want to go to heaven one day and not find you there. We don't want to have to stand in front of God on Judgement Day and explain why we didn't care enough to tell you about Him and what it truly takes to KNOW Him. If you don't know where you'll spend eternity, just ADMIT, BELIEVE and CONFESS. If you do that, please let us know so we can PRAY for you. It is not easy being a Christian. Sometimes people think you're crazy, people don't always understand why you do the things you do. But we do what we do because this is what the Bible says. And, if you do this too, not everyone will understand you either. Just tell us, so we can pray for you and encourage you! Trust us, there is no greater JOY in life than knowing that Jesus is your Lord and Savior and knowing that He is in control of your life.

Have You Ever Had One of THOSE Days?



This is Me!


Have you ever had one of those days where you got a water bill for $227 (yep, there's a problem) and a random check in the mail that you weren't expecting for $224?  Today was that day!  Yep, God is good... ALL the time!

^{Matthew 6:25} “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? ²⁶ Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? ²⁷ Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?"

I'm thankful for a God who knows when the storm's about to come and has the ability to calm it!  :)

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!

Johnny Appleseed Never Said It Better!

Today, I went shopping! And when I say shopping, I mean SHOPPING!!! I went to Menard's, Toys R Us, CVS, Dollar Tree, Schnuck's, Wal-Mart and IGA. Yep, seriously, we went to 7 stores today and it was worth it. I used to always say to only shop at Wal-Mart because they price match everything. Now I'm learning more and more about the way other stores work and boy, I feel like I've won the lottery! Today I spent $120 and saved $165! Seriously, I saved way more than I spent! I bought enough diapers for 2 months, Christmas cards, a birthday gift, groceries, etc, etc, etc. TONS of things. Why in this world if you could, wouldn't you do this? I know that I have more time than some people do. So, if you're a working mom and you drive a long way to work and don't get that much time with your kids, then I understand. But for those of us who are sitting at home, why not?

I started thinking about stewardship. Stewardship, in the sense of being a good steward with what the Lord has given you. In my accurate (because the Bible says it's so), but humble opinion, EVERYTHING is God's. He made it, He gives it to us, He supplies our needs according to HIS riches in glory. So, there you have it. Everything is God's. Everything we have been given is because He chose to give it to us. He does tell us to be good stewards with what he has entrusted us with. I know that some people probably think I'm a hobo who lives in a car and I have to scrape pennies to live. That is not the case. I'm just trying to be a good steward with what the Lord has given me.

Yesterday in Sunday school, we were discussing the perfect Goodness of God. He is perfect and His love is perfect. That means his provision for His children is perfect! He gives me what I need, day by day in order to live and glorify Him. And He's so good that he even provides me things I enjoy, not just my needs. Plus, a wonderful husband and 3 great kids!

So, to sum it all up, here are the lyrics to a good old Johnny Appleseed song. He said it better than I could!

Oh, the Lord's been good to me.
And so I thank the Lord
For giving me the things I need:
The sun, the rain and the appleseed;
Oh, the Lord's been good to me.

I'm thankful the Lord's given me all I need. He is so good!

Molly the Model!

Do you remember getting your school pictures taken? I personally remember loving those days. In the first grade, I had Mrs. Dickens as a teacher. When it was time to get the class picture taken, we'd all been outside running around on a nice warm day. When the group gathered, most everyone looked like sweaty little kids. But not me.... there I was... lavendar polo shirt, plaid skirt, dress shoes and Farrah Fawcet hair. Yes, I said it...Farrah Fawcet hair. And I was proud of it.

I remember my cousin Brooke getting her first school picture taken. She forgot to wash the conditioner out of her hair. She was a little girl, so you can't blame her, but oh my! It was quite a picture. As a matter of fact, if I had a copy of it, I would post it right now. It's that good! Especially if you know how beautiful she is without conditioner in her hair!

Well, today is the day for Molly's first school picture! You know by now if you read my blog that Molly is SHY!!! She doesn't like being taken to school, she doesn't like the playground and she doesn't like anything that's new unless it's a toy. She says she is NOT getting the pictures taken. I payed for them, I picked out the blue background, got her a cute little outfit with puppy dogs on the skirt and socks, fixed her hair so cute with a big bow and she still says she isn't getting her picture taken! As a matter of fact, she has told me since Monday afternoon that she would not be getting it taken. I asked her last night why she didn't want to and she quickly told me that she didn't think she'd like the backdrop! Okay. She hasn't even seen the backdrop, but she thought that would be an easy way to get out of it. I talked to her teacher yesterday who told me not to worry about it. She said there are makeup pictures in November, maybe she'll want to take them then. As a last ditch effort, I offered to bring her lunch and have lunch with her at school if she'd get her picture taken. She said, "No, maybe some other time!" That's where I said, "Okay". Obviously she is scared to death about it if the "Mommy will come to school" card won't work. So, since my daughter will not be getting pictures taken, I took some at home this morning. The child that will not have her picture taken at school took these pictures this morning. I didn't tell her to pose, I didn't tell her to smile, this is just what she came up with! She is so funny - acting all "Tyra Banks" on us! Posing like she's in the next issue of Highlights Magazine (LOL)! I don't understand her shyness or her reasoning for not wanting her school pictures taken, so I'm just learning to go with it. At least I got some good ones at home!

I hope next year she'll see Ryan taking pictures and want to get some done herself. Now I'm sure that will be an interesting blog post...Ryan getting school pictures taken. It will probably include Ryan with nicely combed hair, a tongue sticking out, eyes crossed, and a camera man chasing him. I can't wait.

Wow, God makes kids so differently, but I am so thankful for them all. Molly "the shy one", Ryan "the wild one" and Katie "the screaming one". Hopefully Katie will grow out of hers. I love my kids and everything about them! And I know, soon they'll be taking Senior Pictures and this will be a distant memory.

I Feel Like I'm Falling for Fall....

In the voice of Nick Jr's Moose A. Moose, I have to say, "I feel like I'm falling for fall"! What a fun song! We've been continuing our fall decorating and activites around here and have been working on a new one that I wanted to share with you.

It's the Fall/Thanksgiving Tree! I'm calling it this because it's really a fall tree, but the tree will lose a leaf each day until Thanksgiving. After that, the branches will be bare and it will be time to start a Christmas tree. Last week I gave my kids brown, yellow and orange construction paper and gave them paint in red, orange, green, brown and yellow. I let the paint as much or as little as they wanted on each piece of paper. My kids love to paint and more importantly, love to make messes, so this was fun for them. We used all kinds of paint brushes. Some were round sponges, some small, some large. After a few days of drying, I cut pages into leaf shapes. We used brown construction paper to make a tree trunk and the branches. Used a crayon to make knots on the tree. And of course, tape to make the leaves stick. Now, on our tree, we added apples. The apples are a WHOLE different thing at our house. Apples are the way we handle discipline at our house, but that's a different post at a different time. We just thought the apples would look nice on our tree. Nonetheless, the kids enjoyed making it, it looks cute in the living room and for me, it's a countdown to getting out the Christmas decorations! Yep, Christmas is another post for another time too!

I hope you're having a fun fall (even though it's not even technically fall yet).

You're invited....Why not come?

Have you ever been somewhere or experienced something so incredibly awesome that you had to tell people about it? I mean, you just couldn't stop talking about it?

This week, I've really been thinking about God. About His goodness. About His provision. About His church. About His love. About Him giving Jesus because of my sin and your sin.

I've been thinking a lot about HIS CHURCH. A few weeks ago, we were out of town for Brooke's wedding and our pastor preached a sermon called "The 20/20 Vision". It's about the future of our church in the next 10 years! In recent days, the First Baptist Church of Atwood has experienced exciting growth, new families, lots of babies being born, more people attending Sunday school...and the list goes on. God is moving in HIS church. However, I am not satisfied unless you all know that you are invited too. I'm not inviting you because I want 500 people to come to our church. (We currently have about 150 on Sunday mornings). I'm inviting you because I experience something every week that most people don't ever get to experience! I get to experience church, God's way!

Now, this isn't your typical "me telling you about Jesus" posting. I am really just wondering here... and you're free to respond to me via this blog, facebook or my email:aplby2@yahoo.com.

First of all, I go to the First Baptist Church of Atwood in Atwood, Illinois. Check out our website: www.firstbaptistatwood.org First Baptist Church has this motto "Committed to becoming and bringing others to be fully devoted followers of Christ". That pretty much sums it up. That's who we are and what we do. We are committed to Christ and committed to bringing others to know Him. Why in the world would we care? We care because we care about you and your soul in eternity. If you don't come to church because no one cares, then come to our church.

What do we offer? First of all, our pastor, Lanny Faulkner, preaches the Word of God. It is not watered down, sugar coated or a feel good bunch of mush. I can say that He preaches what God lays on his heart and what the BIBLE says. He heeds the Holy Spirit! He encourages us, leads us, teaches us and prepares us to make it through another week and make it through the rest of our lives. He teaches us God's Word, all of it, and does it all according to the Scriptures! We don't preach what the world wants to hear. We don't skip things we're uncomfortable with. If you want that, go to a different church :) We preach exactly what the Bible says! If you're not going because you're not really hearing the true Word of God, then come to our church!

Next, we love people. I mean that with all sincerity. When we moved to central Illinois in 2001, we looked for over a YEAR for a church home. We looked every Sunday morning and nearly every Sunday night. We visited churches that were big, small and in between. We never felt like any of them were where God wanted us. We went to many church services where no one spoke to us. They didn't even acknowledge we were there. Have you ever experienced this? Gone to a church and no one even spoke to you? That's hurtful and wrong. The day we walked into the First Baptist Church of Atwood, Ron Eagan and Kenny Collins were at the door greeting us. They were so glad we were there. They introduced us to lots of people right away. We walked into the sanctuary and I'm not kidding, I KNEW we were home. Everyone was excited that we were there and made us feel welcome. The music started and so did my tears! We found what we were looking for! It's been 8 years since we've joined FBC and they have always been our family. If you're not coming to church because you don't feel welcome, come to our church! We will welcome you.

Maybe you don't go to church because there's nothing there for your kids to do. When we started going to FBC, we didn't have kids and were not even thinking about having kids. Quickly after joining, we started teaching highschool Sunday school. We soon realized that this was a church that loved kids! My goodness, anything the youth needed, someone in the church was willing to help with. As we grew up (Andy and I) and had a family of our own, we realized that it wasn't just the youth, it was all children! We have a nursery for infants AND toddlers that are fully staffed! You don't have to sit in the nursery every week and listen to a box with the Pastor's voice coming through while you also listen to your child scream and play. We take turns in the nursery so we can all sit and enjoy worshipping together! We have Sunday school for all ages and Sunday school for moms and dads, grandmas and grandpas, young adults, etc, etc, etc. We have children's church for 4 year olds through 3rd grade on Sunday mornings. We have youth group on Sunday evenings. We have AWANAs on Wednesday nights. We're getting ready to start Bible Drills on Sunday nights. We go to church camp, have VBS and do just about everything we can for kids! If you're not going to church because there's nothing for your kids to do, then come to our church!

Now, if you don't come to church because you've been burned or because you think Christians are hypocrites, then I don't know what to tell you other than that we are all sinners. We're all hypocrites and we've all dissappointed people. Every day, if you are a Christian, you have to get up and fight the devil and try to live like Christ. It doesn't always work. Sometimes we fail. I sin all the time, even though I try not to. I am human and so is everyone else in every other church in America. Hopefully you find a church where we are saved sinners, who want to truly live for Christ. If you're not going to church because you've been burned or because churches are full of hypocrites, come to our church. We're all sinners, but we love Jesus and are constantly trying to live more like Christ!

I don't know what your reasoning is for not visiting our church. Maybe you've always gone to a certain church, maybe your family goes there, maybe you just don't go at all. I'm not suggesting you leave your church to come to ours if you already attend a wonderful church. I am suggesting that if you're looking for a home church, visit us! We're excited about Jesus! We're excited that He's coming again. We're excited to do HIS WORK in HIS CHURCH!

So, why don't you come to our church? I'm inviting you. Will you come? I promise you, it's worth the drive, no matter where you live. We don't want you to come because we want to fill the church and count people. I want you to come to experience Christ. Maybe you don't know who HE is. We want to lead you to Him. I want you to experience fellowship the way God intended it to be. I want you to expereince the fellowship our church has to offer. I want your children to be a part of the next generation of Believers who carry on the Great Commission. Whatever your reason, I hope you'll consider visiting. I want you to experience what I expereince EVERY week. I'll be there. Usually in the 3rd row on the left. Andy will be there. Katie in the baby nursery, Ryan in the toddler nursery and Molly in children's church. Come and join us. Be our guest. You are invited and you're welcome to come!

As our pastor says, "It's Friday, but Sunday's coming!" Be in prayer about it. Call us if you need a ride. Experience what we experience.

Fall Kickoff Day

Today at our house was Fall Kickoff Day.

Okay, I don't know about you, but I certainly have a favorite time of the year! I'm certain that my most favorite time of the year starts with September 1st! I know, you're thinking, "What's up with September 1st?" It's not my birthday, or my anniversary or any special occasion in the life of my family.

If you know me well, you know I despise summer. I hate to be hot, I hate to sweat and I detest the humidity. Summer and I have NEVER gotten along. EVER. Period. I was the girl who would sit under a shade tree and think I was dying if I was forced to be outside. You might say, "Why were you forced to be outside?" The answer is because I would never go outside unless someone made me! I didn't play ball, I didn't like the park and I just didn't like the heat. I also loved school! Of course, summer means No School, so I didn't enjoy it. After hearing these rants, I'm sure you can imagine that I LOVE the fall!!!

Crisp air, cool nights, sweaters, jackets, weenie roasts and s'mores, crunchy leaves, pumpkins and pumpkin patches, apple cider, Halloween and Thanksgiving! Oh, the bliss of it all!!!

A few years ago, before I had kids, I declared that September 1st was my favorite day of the year. You see, on September 1st (in my mind), you can start getting out your fall and harvest decorations. Soon thereafter come the Halloween decorations and right on into Thanksgiving. NOT TO MENTION Christmas!!! (Christmas is another post that would take you 5 years to read: One year for each of the trees in my house!) I LOVE the holidays! I love everything about them! So, each year, on September 1st, if I can, I start decorating and enjoy myself!

This year, September 1st was on a Wednesday that happened to be our first night back to AWANAs after summer break. As the AWANA Commander, I have tons of work to do before AWANAs can start. So this year, I waited until Friday, September 3rd to start the excitement.

Molly got out of school today for a school improvement afternoon so I picked her up and we all loaded up in the van to start the Kickoff!

First, we went to Tuscola to get supplies at IGA for the cookies we were going to make. Next, we went to the park. Tuscola has an awesome park. If you haven't been, you should go! This summer, every Friday, we took a picnic lunch and visited a different park in central IL. Today was our last stop on the Friday Park Tour. We enjoyed playing there for about an hour and a half. Next, we came home and made Corny Cookies from the Family Fun website. http://familyfun.go.com/recipes/corny-cookies-685173/ They were so cute to make, plus, they tasted great. I didn't use their cookie or frosting recipe because I have an awesome recipe, but they were still the same concept. Unfortunately, as you can see in the picture, mine didn't look near as cute, but they were fun! For dinner, we had chili. Our first pot of the year. Chili is easily one of Andy's favorite foods so he was happy! After that, we dug out our fall decorations and Molly and Ryan helped me unpack them and set them up. They were so cute, trying to give me major input on where each thing should go throughout the house! I loved it!

Next we have to get to our porch! That's my favorite thing to decorate! Pumpkins, pumpkins everywhere! And a few mums thrown in too! Hopefully we'll get to that next weekend!

I hope you all have a fantastic fall and enjoy the crisp air, cool nights, sweaters, jackets, weenie roasts and s'mores, crunchy leaves, pumpkins and pumpkin patches, apple cider, Halloween and Thanksgiving as much as I do!

Applebyisms of Summer 2010

Okay, so most of you know that I am the mommy to 3 kids; Molly, who is 4, Ryan, who is 3 and Katie who is 3 months. As you can imagine, I hear lots of funny things. Great stories, mispronunciation of words, etc. After sharing some of my stories on Facebook, someone told me that I needed to write all these things down so I could remember them forever. So, without hesitation, I'm going to share some of my favorite "Applebyisms" of the summer of 2010 with you.

• Today, we went to the park and Ryan and Molly both wanted to bring stuffed animals with them. Molly's stuffed animal usually makes a lot of noise and gets in trouble when she rides in the car with us. They begged and begged to bring stuffed animals today so I said, "Only if they behave in the car" to which Ryan replied, "I will Be a Have!".
• Another story from today... I told Molly and Ryan that we would do something fun after Molly got out of school this afternoon. On the way to school, Molly asked me if we were going to go on a train ride, to which I said no. Then she enthusiastically asked me if we could dig through a dumpster! REALLY?!?! I am the queen of clean and I don't even know where she'd get such an idea, but she thought it was funny.
• August 31, 2010: Laugh for the day - I just told Ryan we had to go to the Crematory and he said, "Oh good!". "I was wanting some icecream!"
• August 25, 2010: Last night Molly wrote and performed a new song for us. It goes "Love your family, spin around, rock and roll Jesus, rock and roll". I'm pretty sure it's not going to make it into the next edition of the Baptist Hymnal!
• August 16, 2010: For Pre-K, Molly needed a backpack, paper towels, kleenex and napkins. On Molly's school supply list (which she made up) was a notebook that had a schedule in it (which she's sure Mrs. Harbaugh will want to use), 2 flash drives and a calculator! That's my girl...always prepared! And she's got her outfits picked out for the rest of the week!
• July 30, 2010: Yesterday we were in the car and Molly told Ryan that she was excited for Preschool, but she's never going to Kindergarten and I asked why and she said, "Because I heard when you get to Kindergarten, your teeth start falling out." She didn't realize that you were supposed to lose teeth!!!
• July 2010: Molly, thinking she is the smartest child to ever live, asked Ryan this: "Do you have Jesus' heart?" Ryan said, "NO!" She said, "You better get it! If you don't, you're going to go to a real place called Hell and there's a lake of fire!" Seriously, she asks me random questions every now and then about the Bible and I don't lie to her. She just put them together and came up with the best thing she could. I love it that she asked him if he had Jesus' heart!
• June 16, 2010: I was just in the van with Molly and Ryan on the way home from the library. Ryan said that someone hit him and Molly's response was: "It's okay, we're all sinners!" LOL!
• And, the best story of the summer is this: If you ask Ryan what Katie's favorite food is, he says "Boooosom!" So, earlier this summer we were at Wal-Mart and Katie was crying and the checker was trying to talk sweet to her and Ryan said, "It's okay, it's just Booosom Time!"

I hope you got a good laugh out of some of these stories! I know they make me laugh everyday. Having children is always stressful, but at least God lets us have fun with them! If I didn't laugh sometimes, I'd cry. I'm so thankful for the laughter!

10 Years of Memories

So, last week, Andy and I celebrated our 10 year anniversary! Seriously, 10 years. We got married on August 19, 2000 at Immanuel Baptist Church in Benton, IL. Andy had just turned 20 and I was 21. We were young pups, but knew we wanted to be married and start our lives together.

Here's an overview!

2000- The wedding was August 19th and we left for our honeymoon to Marco Island, FL that night! When we got back, school had started so we were right in the swing of things. We were both in college. I was at SIU (after transferring from Union University in Jackson, TN) and Andy was pursuing Social Work at John A Logan College. We lived in the tiniest apartment in Marion, IL and had a futon for a couch and a card table for our kitchen table. I remember that first Christmas buying Andy, who LOVES movies, a DVD player!!! It cost $250! Isn't that crazy? I think you can get one now for $30. He loved it. We both worked in the evenings and went to school in the daytime, but we loved all the moments we got to spend together!

2001 - I graduated from SIU with a degree in Speech Communications. After realizing there weren't a lot of job in Southern Illinois for my area of interest, we decided to move to Newman, IL where Andy's extended family lived. He transferred to EIU, still studying Social Work and worked for his Papaw at the Joines Funeral Home. We lived in the apartments right next to the funeral home. We searched, and searched, and searched some more for a church without finding one. Every week, visiting churches, Sunday morning and Sunday night...nothing!

2002 - Andy comes home from a night of working with his Grandpa and says, "I think I want to be a funeral director!" Seriously?!?! He was in his next to last semester for Social Work...we were almost done. But, if this is what he wanted to do, then I was all for it! That summer we found our home church, First Baptist Church of Atwood and quickly settled in and got to work serving in the church. In September, Andy packed up and moved to Chicago to attend Worsham College of Mortuary Science, while I stayed here and held down the homefront, working in Champaign at Colwell.

2003 - Andy graduated from mortuary school and he was HOME! Finally. I was never so happy to have him here.

2004 - Andy served as an apprentice for a year for his grandfather and we suffered a terrible miscarriage. Andy did ok with it and I was devastated. I didn't understand and didn't understand God's plan. I still don't understand, but after 6 years and 3 more children, I am at peace! 2004 was a tough year for us, but we made it through!

2005 - On my birthday, January 5, I quit my job. Immediately after, we started moving into the funeral home. We painted, sanded, painted some more, hung wall paper and decorated until we were exhausted. Just a few weeks later, we found out we were expecting. One of my dearest friends, Stacy had just moved to Georgia and Ashley and I decided to go see her. We drove the loooong trip from IL to GA! That night, we had terrible storms! I had no idea that at home, there were major storms too! That night, whether from lightning or electrical problems, our house/funeral home burned! Andy was sleeping inside and the room behind his head had huge flames shooting out of the roof! Somehow, God woke him up and got him out! Everyone said he should have died...they didn't even know how the bed hadn't fallen through the floor because there wasn't much of a floor left. I am so thankful he saved Andy and had me (and Molly in my belly) out of the house! We quickly, with the help of my dad, built a new funeral home and were in 2 weeks before Molly was born. On November 14, 2005, we welcomed our first baby! Molly Ruth Appleby. God was good to us. So FAITHFUL. Life would never be the same! I learned a lot about my husband when our daughter was born! I remember the day we found out she was a girl and his response while looking at the screen was, "I'm going to buy her a pony and build a barn for it". Seriously, if you know Andy, that's a hilarious statement. He doesn't build anything at all, but I knew, laying there looking at our baby via sonogram that Andy Appleby would never be the same. He loved her, changed her diapers, read to her, carried her and adored her! The man I married was the best dad I could have asked for, for my children!

2006 - We had a new funeral home and a new baby! Molly was such a good baby, that we decided we'd go ahead and have one more. I got pregnant right. At my very first doctor's appointment, the doctor found a rather large lump in my breast and told me on a scale of 1-5, she was sure it was breast cancer. I was so incredibly sad, my mom's sister had died of breast cancer much too young! I remember thinking about Molly and the baby I was carrying. Andy was so supportive! The doctor's told me what to expect with chemotherapy while you are pregnant. A few weeks later, I had a sonogram and the doctor's were going to do a biopsy. That day, the sonographer came in and looked and looked and looked at the screen. For what seemed like an eternity, he looked at the screen and finally said, "Nothing!" "There's nothing there." "I don't know where it went because I know I saw it a few weeks ago, but it's gone!" I of course, made sure to tell him that we were Christians and had been praying for this! A shout of praise and a sigh of relief! Once again, God was FAITHFUL!

2007 - Here's Ryan! April 22, 2007, Ryan Andrew Appleby was born! Molly was 17 months old when we brought Ryan home from the hospital! Twice the diapers, twice the mess and twice the fun! Ryan laughed out loud in the hospital the night he was born and I remember thinking that he was going to be a funny kid who enjoyed laughing! BOY, was I right!!! I still love to hear him laugh.

2008 - In 2008 was a busy year, chasing a baby and a toddler around the house. Ryan was learning to talk, Molly started writing her name and telling all kinds of stories. We really enjoyed our life and our kids. We felt complete as a family!

2009 - What were we thinking!!! One more baby!!! Just one more, that's all we need! So, in the fall of 2009 we found out we were expecting another bundle of joy! I was sick as a dog for the rest of the year! I went from chasing kids to laying on the couch and throwing up! Not fun! Andy took care of everything - the housework, the kids, the "everything you can think of". He was amazing and again, I was reminded of how thankful I was for a husband that was so understanding and caring!

2010 - Still sick... Molly is 4 now and Ryan was 2 (turning 3 in April). Even though I was sick, I worked with them, teaching them things. Molly learned to read words and then read her first book "Hot Dog"! I was so proud of her. Ryan learned to write his name, which really looked like a circle with two sticks on it and some scribbles after that, but he was PROUD! In February, we found out that our health insurance company was not going to cover our maternity care or delivery! I called the hospital and they told me at once that I would have to come up with the $30,000 to have the baby! $30,000??? Where was I going to come up with that? Andy kept reminding me that God was faithful and He would provide! Sure enough, God was FAITHFUL! He provided every single penny! Every penny for us! God is FAITHFUL! On May 15, 2010, Katherine Brooke Appleby was born! Our third child! Wow! I was 31 and had 3 kids! This was more than I could ever imagined for our family. She is a beautiful and sweet baby and loves her Mommy! Since Katie's been born, Molly started Pre-K and we're facing her being gone from us all day. She's not sure if she likes it yet, but we know she will eventually. Right now, Andy and I are enjoying our days with Ryan and Katie and realizing that we should love each moment since they're going to grow up as quickly as Molly did and be gone to school soon.

God has been so good to us in our 10 years of marriage. I am thankful to Him because I know that before I was conceived and before Andy was conceived that God knew that in the year 1999, Andy Appleby and Misty Smith were going to meet at Wal-Mart in Benton, Illinois in the card isle. He created us to be together. Andy, the relaxed one. Misty, the high strung one. Andy, the one who enjoyed the day to day and Misty, who had everything planned out for the rest of her life. God is good. He is good to us, He was faithful to us and is still proving His faithfulness in our lives! I love the 10 years I've had with Andy Appleby and all it has entailed. God is the giver of all good things and for that, I must say thank you to God for his awesome gift to me!

No Crying = Soda After School

Molly started Pre-K last week! We are devastated here without her. For her entire life, she's been at home with both parents and having adult conversations since she's been able to talk. She's gone to Pre-K now...Monday through Friday, 8-3! It's a long day, but for a girl who's as shy as Molly is, we knew this was best for her. This summer, Molly went to the library program and her teacher was the Pre-K teacher at the school. The Pre-K aide is a great family friend, Teresa Hawkins. She and Molly get along great! We knew that if there was ever going to be an easy transition for Molly that this would be it!!!

Let me say after a week of school, I am so glad we did this now because I cannot fathom how horrible it would be if we did this next year and she didn't know the teachers. She has cried almost everyday. She tells me how much she misses me. She stands on the playground crying with all the other kids running around her, having fun. I don't understand because I was never so shy. I feel sooo sorry for her standing there all alone and I cry because I can see she's upset. I know, it's only been one week and I'm hoping it only gets better! Andy swears to me that she won't be a senior in highschool, standing on the playground alone or playing in the rocks by herself under the tree.

I know she's bored with the conversation. I ask her how lunch was and she tells me who she sits by and says, "those kids don't talk much". I asked her if they talked to other people and she said they didn't, they just don't talk much at all. I'm sure she's pretty bored considering she's eaten 3 meals a day with Andy, Ryan and I and we talk about EVERYTHING!

Sending Molly to school has been very beneficial in one area so far! She is praying like crazy! She's learning that she can pray wherever she's at, no matter what! She's praying to not be scared and praying for friends (to have them and for the ones she's made), and this is certainly keeping me on my toes, spiritually. I am in constant prayer for her!

I cannot imagine how I'm going to feel when my kids go through things and tough experiences at school and in life. It breaks my heart to see her cry everyday in Pre-K.

All I can say is that I am so thankful that God has entrusted 3 children to me. I am committed to teaching them to pray about every situation and to be faithful witnesses for Christ!

Pray for Molly today, that she stays strong, that she finds people to play with, that she has fun AND that she doesn't cry (because Daddy's going to give her SODA if she doesn't)!