Lately I am finding my study of Scriptures even more so is making its habitation into my daily life. It always has really but still. When i let my own devotional WOT time slip for a few days i am always feeling a little lost and when i come back it brings me life. So the Word truly does lift us up and give us so much. Truly, especially the book of Genesis and how it relates to well everything.

Avery is growing up too fast, i hardly can tell when i go to pick her up at school. Hard to believe and of course she is learning new words every day. Holly was on the treadmill and she shouts out dont run mommy, walk! We were doing potty time and chased a fly around the bathroom, we flushed it and she said no no fly bye bye. It was great. She has the sweetest little voice ever and is always coming up with things that blow me away.

Summer is approaching although you cant tell with all the rain we have had lately. I will say this though, i will be happy when i have less grass to mow. Hopefully that will be soon. We are waiting on someone to make an offer then we can finally move. We will be closer to work which is good and in a town with more to do. Not that i am opposed to small towns, but i am used to bigger ones from CA.

So for now we just sit and wait, thinking about what is ahead and looking forward to more to come. I dont know what it will look like, but we will keep going strong.

I really need to get a personal maid to pick up after me or at least type my blog updates for me. It can be rather hard to get around to even with all the time we devote to facebook chatting these days and mindless television programming. At least last week was good since my parents were in town unexpectely. My dad had work so it was nice for them to both come and hang out with us. We also did a bit of house hunting even though ours has not sold yet. Not sure what the problem is but we must learn to hang in there and trust in the Lord to provide.

Avery is impressing us more and more with her increased vocuabulary! She says dinners ready mommy, daddy where are we going, and all sorts of stuff. We have a little child in our midst. My dad enjoyed his stay with us but afterward bought me a book by James Dobson on raising a strong willed child. Its good so far, very helpful.

Work is good for both of us right now things are going well. The ecomony is still causing some trouble but i think we will make it through and as summer comes it will pick up. Which is good since we are going to try to have another baby this summer, so all should be very busy. Along with trying to sell the house very very busy.

Mothers day is drawing near so i need to make some good plans to take care of the mommy world, which reminds me i need to get the cards and get those ready to go. I really should learn not to wait till 10 at night to do everything i need to get done. Much too much trouble. So while i attempt to involve myself more and more it seems like its harder and harder. But the Lord seems to be telling me that i spend way to much time saying i cant when i really am saying i wont. So I need to do the things i know i need to do and not say otherwise. So that is the mystery of life. We fight on.

Been a long day... which is actually quite a good thing because there was plenty for me to do at work and then at home. Most of the week is like that right now. Monday's are my off days for the moment till we get around to working 40 hours again. I don't mind so much since it gives me an extra day off to do housework, yard work, and whatever other work needs to be done.

Avery had a great time last weekend for Easter. Saturday was great weather so the day out with granny and the church easter egg hunt was a lot of fun. I know Avery enjoyed herself. She is quiet the little indepedent these days, wanting to do everything herself and have a say in everything. Its getting warmer now so she can enjoy more time outside and I know she loves the dirt puddles. She will find one when she can, even when no one else seems to.

Its hard watching the season end as far as television. I confess the final episode of ER is sitting unwatched on my tv waiting for Holly and I to finally give in and watch it. I dont like seeing stuff go, when there really is less and less good to watch. We are catching up now on some older shows. We are in season eight of Frasier, they really dont make them that funny anymore.

We have the house back on the market and hopefully some interest is brewing. So many things ahead for us. Hol and I have so much to pray about and consider, we want to have another baby soon as well, maybe this summer. I would like a springtime kid to go along with Avery's fall birthday time.

I am keeping up with facebook, while my blog and my journel go untouched. I hope my company starts to see an increase soon, I know it will. Its good to trust the Lord in times such as these. trust In HiM.

Twilight midnight releas at Hot Topic!

Not good...its been too long since i have posted and I am sure i will wonder some day why i did not write more. Updates are important, but that is what facebook and myspace are for these days. I am not even sure where my journal is or when i wrote in it last. Its been hard to keep track of though, not an excuse! We have been busy so i will try nothing short of a quick recap.

Hollys mom came over last night to help organize the kitchen. We are getting set for another Spring garage sell since we truly have way to much stuff and not enough room for it all. Tonight we will be heading out to Hot Topic for a Twilight release party to get the DVD and enjoy feeling like we are young again. Sat night we have a party at our house for the movie and enjoyment with friends.

Work has been good and i am still there which is really good. We have all been struggling to get by with the shape the country is in, but we must push through. This is a strong land and our Lord will be with us. I know even when things get hard He is always faithful. There is nothing needed to say.

Avery is of course growing more every day. She is getting a lot better with her words and saying things. It all takes time, still working on the ptty time too. Its eary and that is about the sum of things for the moment.

Back in Oklahoma and back to the routine of life as it is. Avery at least seems to be okay with getting back to the program of daycare and the not as exciting parents. We had a great time on the vacation though and i realize now i have not updated since we got to CA in the first place. So why don't i attempt to say a few things just to remind myself later on.

Thursday morning was spent mostly on the back porch watching Avery have a blast since it was 70 degrees, sunny and the grass was very green. So of course she had a great time away from the cold and brown land we have been used to since fall and winter. We got a kick out of watching her fun and play. She even got used to the doggies. She picked up on a lot more words during the trip. It helped to have my parents, sisters, and Uncle Jason there to help. We all gave her lots to say and learn.

Jon and his family arrived and we spent more time on the porch. Then just our little family and theirs headed to the park for lunch. This was the same park i asked Holly to marry me. We watched Lexi and Avery play and enjoy the park together. It was a blast seeing them together and after they got used to each other they became best friends. At first they were shy, but by the end they were leading eachother hand in hand, it was great! Something about those girls, I am looking forward to watching them grow. It was great to have time with Jon and Jess. I gave Jon a copy of the Love Dare book featured in Fireproof. We are going to go through it and keep each other accountable as we learn to love our wives even more. It was hard to see them go but i know we will see them again.

Later that evening I took Holly to the Sycamore Inn the night we were engaged. I owed her a cheese cake, which turned out to be divine! I think i would go back there just for that cheese cake. Anyway it was a wonderful eveing. Friday was mostly stay at home day though we did make it out to the mall a little to show Avery the RainForest cafe. It was good just to spend time with my parents and sisters. Saturday was beach day. We all went out to the hunington dog beach for some fun. Jason wasnt able to go, but the rest of us did along with the two dogs. My sister had her dog along with her.

Avery enjoyed every minute of the ocean and beach as soon as daddy made sure she understood it was safe. We collected shells and felt the sand in our toes! It was so much fun. Sunday was more time spending with family. We also played this future version of Risk which is really fun. I won which never happens so that was a nice treat. I will try to get pics up of the weekend later to show off. Just wanted to recap though.

Its hard to leave California everytime we have to. Being apart from family leaves you with something missing from your life. But I know we will be together again soon for more fun. And I will keep myself busy taking care of my beautiful wife and daugther and see what we can get into. Its also good to have Hollys side of the family here too, it makes it a little easier. All for now, got to get to bed!

As i sit here with my baby girl on my lap in the chill of my parents house, i reflect on the trip so far. I can say this for sure, traveling with a two year old should be avoided if possible, and perhaps would have gone easier if we had given her a little something to make her sleepy. She was already tired and pretty much awake the entire flight screaming her head off making all the other parents on board laugh at memories of their own children being that young. Ah yes.

We are finally in California though and there is a blanket of snow on the mountians. Hopefully today will be warm and sunny and we can enjoy every minute. Part of me wants to hop in the car and go see Jon right now knowing he is at his parents house as well. But that will have to wait till later when they come over after breakfast. It will be so good to see him and Avery will enjoy visiting with Lexi.

So much we will be doing in the next few days, i look forward to the time off. Though leaving work can be hard when you are responsible for so much and you hope its in good hands while you are away. But i cant think about work i need to just relax. At least we are finally here and we will never take a late night flight like that again. Poor miss Avery is so tired, mommy is as well. I seem to be able to operate on four hours of sleep so i think i will make it. My next goal is to find a scanner for some old pics i found here hiding in my parents albums. Those of course way back in the day before digital photos made things so much easier.

Meanwhile i love my dear wife for putting up with the frusteration of tiredness from Avery and me. She is a great wife and i love her so much. Well off to a fun filled day of California.

Yesterday morning we slept in as long as we could, enjoyed a healthy breakfast and cleaned the house for a little while. Once we got that accomplished we hurried off to hollys dads house. Him and Joey watched Avery for us so we could go enjoy the rest of the day together alone. To start off we headed to the beauty parlor to have pedicures and eyebrow wax. This would be a first for me so is was interesting to say the least. I preferred the foot bath more than anything that was fun. After that we went to the bakery for some cupcakes, headed home...
that evening we went to the Air and Space Planetarium where they had a Romance under the stars. It was very fancy, formal, and awesome. We sat under the dome watching the stars along with other people including some board members. It was a great time and very enjoyable Valentines day. Holly got me a new phone and I got her a plate setting Fiestaware Chocolate. Avery got a large stuffed ladybug plush friend. Ill get a pic when i can and post it! Ah so on to the next big holiday which isnt for another month and a half, that being Easter!

It is late into the evening here, and in the chill of my bedroom i hear the sound of my heater trying to kick itself on. Avery is sound asleep and Holly has yet to return from her girls night out. She and some friends went to see a movie so i expect her home anytime now. Its good for her to get out and feel like she is enjoying herself, probably good to get away from me too, just for a little while. I am tired now of course and i wish i was able to get some rest. Its a new month and a new day and weekend. It has been busy too this week which is partly good and keeps me working hard. Anyway i am getting weary even now thinking of it

I would like to crawl into bed at this point and probably will soon. Currently though we are babysitting several little ones which are a blast of energy. Avery enjoys the company but mommy and daddy are tired out. All good just wanting to head into the next month asleep...soon.

Fireproof is a highly recommended movie, so lets talk about why i think so for a moment. First of all it is a well directed and acted movie. Its got action and the story of love written all over it. It shows us how difficult marriages can be but why they are worth fighting for and working at. We bought the DVD and have watched it several times already, a great reminder every day of not only the love we are to have for each other but the love we are to have for God.

Facebook is proving to be a pretty neat way to connect with old friends and people from all over. The furthest out is David in Japan who works with the YWAM, he is out there working on a school of worship. Its a fine ministry and we commit to helping him and his wife and their three children as they work there. I remember the blessing we had from others while we were in ministry so i know how important it is to share in the work.

As i grow more tired here i am excited as well at the future and what God will do. Holly and I are looking forward to Valentines day since its on a Sat and we can enjoy the whole day together. We also still look to selling our home and trying for another baby. These are the desires of our hearts and we put them out there for the Lord and His will. We trust Him now and always. So even in the hard times we continue to give to His will.

My wonderful new dell which is only four months old and not even paid for yet has died. I spent all last night with tech support trying to reload the OS and drivers only for it to still give me the same failure. Seems a virus or something got a hold of it. Unfortutnaly all my documents and important files are wiped out now. I think i can rebuild with out too much trouble. Once again i will have to rebuild my WOT email list, among other things. Its a mess.

On top of that my wifes car is still in the shop being fixed after my tailgate accident a few weeks ago. So she has to drive my darling 10 year old car. I at least have a ride since my brother in law and i work at the same place so he can drive me in. The ice storm came through last night making the roads real fun to drive on... well you know what i mean. So its going to take some time to get back on to gear. I should have a new hard drive for my computer in a couple days and will get going from there hopefully.

Do not sharply rebuke an older man, but rather appeal to him as a father, to the younger men as brothers, the older women as mothers, and the younger women as sisters, in all purity. 1 Timothy 5:1-2Do not be so quick to judge your fellow man or woman; for at face value we are all in the same boat of grace. Not one of us can be held higher than another as the Bible reveals all have sinned and fallen short. Still I have found myself in the familiar spot from time to time forgetting who I am and who God is. Consider everyone around you to be a part of your family. In essence this is Paul’s instruction for he knows the love of a family is strongest. And true we can love despite the errors and mistakes, and faults. Throughout the years and my own failings it seems like my family has always been the quickest to forgive and love. We all desire to ask godly since that is what the Lord has commanded. So it is natural for our spirit to rise up within us when someone is around us falling short. Remember how Jesus lived and loved, and still loves us daily. God does not turn His back on His children. We in turn must never turn our backs on each other. For in the family it can go both ways and we want to love others; just as we expect to be loved. Treat men like brothers and women like sisters. This will help in your purity toward them. Be respectful of those older than you; trust the Lord will guide them as He has you. Our Holy Spirit within us shows us daily how much grace we have been given. So remember He is giving grace to each of us, for we are still alive to try again today.

Our economy is in trouble, the world at large is facing a very difficult time. We all have to tighten back our hedges and make sure we start saving every penny we can. The only hope this country has now is Jesus and the grace of our Lord falling upon us. Our Nations leadership must grab hold of the Bible and trust in God's help now. I pray they do because we need it so much right now. On my mind lately has been the subject of giving to God even in the midst of all these problems.

Last year was a very difficult year for us, between job changes and trying to sell our house there was much struggle. Holly went through a job change in mid summer which has worked out for her now, though it will be better next month once we can get onto her insurance. We have been on mine for a while now and its just not the greatest, we would have saved more money not having it at all probably. After losing my job in May and going through that period of hopelessness i finally found a job in July thanks to my brother in law and the Lord's provision. Its hard though because we literally took a 70% pay cut compared to what i was making. I don't know what the exact numbers are but its been hard.

When we begin to lose the battle for freedom in our own lives as must trust God. Trusting Him is something He has been laying on my heart lately to do. I had been trying to decide on giving but did not know the answer. Last Wed a fellow brother in Christ and co worker reminded me completely out of the blue just what i needed to hear. God will use other people to speak into our lives, but its always regarding something He has already been dealing with us. We were talking about our paychecks which come on Thursday, and he made mention of still how important it is even though our paycheck is going right to the bills, its important to give back to God in tithe. Offer back what He has given to us. Amazing since he had no idea this had been on my heart.

So my challenge is to trust God now even more. If i do not give even when the times are hard I am not showing i believe His Word or even His voice through my friend at work. So no matter how difficult the road gets ahead trying to cut back all we can should not cut back our giving back to Him. For that matter he is the one who keeps us going every day, has blessed us with work to do, and given us grace to accomplish all things for Him.

A new era has begun, a new president, and a new country. I really do not know what is in store for this land in the coming months and years; but i trust God. Regardless of what policies i do not agree with, regardless of what i do not like about the leadership; i trust God. I will trust Him because if a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without Him knowing, than a country or man can not rise to power without His hand. All things are in His control. His grace be with us and His wisdom be with our new president. The first African American President. We shall see what is ahead for this land.

A little closer to home I am currently waiting here at the ITT computer library for my class to begin. I discovered i new hobby online, that is the facebook. Its cool because it allows me to catch up with old friends from high school, and Water of Life youth group. I forgot how many people there are i used to interact with on a daily basis out in California. Seems like i am living in a different world in Oklahoma with a whole new crowd of people. Hopefully I can find my place at our home church here in much the same way. My spirit is yearning to be involved with what God is doing, and I pray He leads us and gives us wisdom. Its my desire to be the man of God my wife and daugther need. I work hard toward the goal, but struggle. I guess we all do.

So times are going by fast. Watching the market carefully and hoping we can sell our house so we can move into a better area. Also waiting and praying for the right time to work on having a second child. We want to start working on that in the summertime. Avery could really use a sibling to run around with. I will trust God. So between busy at work and school, time with family, and time online there is not much more. I look forward to catching up with some old friends i havent heard from in a while. Makes me smile when i think about how far God has brought me since highschool. Married to the best wife a man could ask for, and father to an amazing toddler who is the expression of her parents in such amazing ways. She is a load of fun. Well thats all the updating for now....

Already off to a busy start for the new year, hard to believe its almost the end of the first decade of this century! We hardly began, which is funny since Hol and i also started dating in Aug 2000, so for it to be 2009 makes it really seem like time has flown. But that is the nature of life.

So with the new year and excitment there is also the overwelming task of saving and making it through a difficult ecomomy currently plauging the world. I have made my new years resolutions, or more or less desires for the new year. Hard to believe the first month is already almost up. My goals and hopes are set though on getting a new house and a new baby on the way by this time next year. I know it sounds crazy, even more so with the straps the world is in right now. But the last thing i want to do in a time like this is allow it to keep me from living life and enjoying what the Lord has in store. So we need to keep in prayer for both of these desires.

Avery continues to come up with new words and strengthen her vocabulary. For example she can repeat pretty basic words and point things out, flowers, train, moon (she loves the moon). She also knows who mommy and daddy are as well as knows us by Holly and David too if we ask her to point us out. She can say Diane, Laurie, Cole, Haye, Beth, for her five aunts. She also is working on her last name which is coming along. She understands more than she can say of course, though she is a wise and wild child, still very much a toddler. I think she really could use a sibling! So could mommy and daddy. And a nap too, which is what both my girls are doing now.

We bought a treadmill and Wii for Christmas and have been enjoying those greatly. Its nice to go for a stroll from the comfort of my own guest room, not having to worry about the weather or any other distraction, just listen to the quite music and enjoy. And of course I am also enjoying the game system in between doing school work. Right now I am working on my math courses, so there is a lot of catching up and remembering to do with that. Its been a while!

I got done watching You've Got Mail for the hundreth or so time, I love that movie. It really just captures the whole excitment me and Holly felt when we were doing the whole net chatting and emailing thing so long ago. Times have changed so much though, i hate to even think about letting my own daugther online. Its just not the same world it was ten years ago. Ten years ago this November is when she first emailed me. I read that email every year, makes me smile and be so thankful God brought us together.
Okay enough of that i need some ice cream!!

What a weekend it has been. Of course Christmas day was full of the usual driving around to family and having fun with presents. Then of course since then i caught a cold so i have not been much fun to hang out with. Still trying to get over it though. All and all it was fun and i will get some pics up here soon enough of little Avery and all her excitment.

Of course I am awake. Its CHRISTMAS!!! Now the trouble is getting everyone else up so we can get to the tree. Santa did his work last night, ate the cookies and milk, enjoyed putting out stockings and presents for all. Quite the amazing sight, a tree with presents under it. Its a reminder of the ultimate gift given to us 2000 years ago in a manager. We cannot forget the meaning of this season is Jesus coming as God in the flesh to save all mankind. I wish my own words were as eloquent as some who can describe it all so much better. My message is simple and my words do not carry overtones of vast English knowledge. I only know one thing Jesus Christ came down to earth as the one and only answer for the sinful nature of mankind. He is the cure to our dark hearts for His light will fill us up and bring us life. Jesus my savior, my friend, my Lord and my God. He came and we celebrate by giving what little gifts we can to one another. When the whole meaning is the message of Jesus coming and humbling himself into the worst of the world's governments, in a terribly cruel time. Still we praise the Lord for all that He is and all He does. Praise His Name!

December 23rd 2008 has arrived and is nearly ended at this point. Quiet now the house was just a while ago full of busy children and birthday fun. But we will go back to this morning to recap as it always starts somewhere. We woke up an hour earlier and dropped Avery off with grammy. Then we headed to get a quick breakfast together and off to work it was. I made sure to send Holly some flowers for her birthday and also for Christmas, though they were not supposed to show up on the same day. Anyhow they were very beautiful...and are since they are still here on the table.

After work i picked up the cake and the baby and rushed home. We enjoyed an evening with friends and family.. mainly Lindsey, Isaac and the children. Avery loved playing with them and was on a sugar rush most of the evening. Now she is fast asleep as well as my birthday girl and wonderful wife. I bought her a braclet for her birthday. From Avery she got a snowglob from precious moments which has a mommy and daugther theme, very pretty. We had pizza and watched Top Gun which is Hol's favorite movie and of course has nothing to do with Christmas. I always try to keep the two separate. However tommrow is Christmas eve and for the first time in a long time I have the day off so that will be nice. I will let you know how things turnn out from there.

Christmas, less than a week away and still so much shopping to accomplish. Such a short amount of time for that matter. As for this morning after nearly burning the house down by leaving the stove on, and burning my cookies in the process, i cannot get back to sleep. I left them in and forgot about them so now i lost a perfectly good backing sheet for that matter. Life goes on though, as they say. It seems.

Work has been going good, pretty busy this time of year. At least we are getting Christmas eve and Jan 2nd off. This only means of course i need to take two unpaid days off to save the vacation hours and try making up the time in other places during those two weeks if possible. Since it is only five working days i dont think i will have much luck with that. Shall see though. I love the holidays though. This year we wont be traveling out of the state though just to a few places here in the state. At least we get to go to CA in Feburary so i look forward to that.

It is in this time of year we rejoice in the birth of our Lord Jesus. Celebrating with lights and lots of food. Its a good time. Much better than last year with the ice storm. I wouldnt mind some snow though, not sure its going to happen. But at least we can enjoy what we have and be thankful for all the Lord's blessings.

Avery is putting words together more and more. She never leaves the house or anywhere without her puppy and her blankets. She calls the blankets mimi. She also calls grandma mimi. And of course when grandma comes over to visit she says, mimi's at the door. She is a good little doorbell for us. To cute. Ever growing. She may not understand all about Christmas but she will get it soon enough, at least we can work on the memories of the season. All the good ones.

Friday evening we all got in the car and went to the Bible college in the city. They have a massive display of lights to enjoy and walk through. We went with Holly's bf Lindsey, her hubby and their three kids. Avery is just the right age to play with those three and they had a blast running around enjoying the lights. We all did very much enjoy the time. Here is a pic of us, of course it was hard to keep Avery on target with taking a picture, way to much to do and not enough time to do it. We had a great time though and have made it a tradition for our families to enjoy together.

We arrived home yesterday from our little family vacation. What a trip it was, of course we didn't really go that far from home but still got to enjoy ourselves. Carthage is a nice city and the Precious Moments is beautiful, though i can tell its fading a little. We got to paint some figurines. Holly's and Avery's looked very diffrent. You can see Avery had fun with the one they gave daddy. She is also into this teeth bearing smile these days. She does know what smile for the camera is though.

We also enjoyed a light display at a local monestary which was rather fun. They had everything up to the birth of Jesus, however they left out the most important thing which we noticed was odd. There was no cross or any mention of Him dying for our sins and being raised again. The stories portrayed in the lights were great, but they lacked the vital piece.

We had a silent auction of figurines and bingo. Avery caused such a chaotic time in bingo i finally had to drag her out. One of the guys in charge handed us a figurine on the way out. Its called Rasin' Cane on the Holiday's. Its adorable and it seemed to fit right. Avery had a good time with Mommy and daddy all weekend and will not enjoy going back to school today, but alas she must.

So just a couple more weeks till Holly's birthday and Christmas are here. Hard to believe how fast time goes but we always look forward to this time of year, lots of good times ahead. Even with the world as crazy as it is we have each other.

Morning and welcome to Carthage MO! Home of the Precious Moments and Chapel. We left Hollys Christmas party last night and hit the road for a much needed vacation. So Avery, Hol, and daddy are enjoying some time away and time to relax. This morning we woke up and got breakfast and that is about where we are at this point. Today we have several things we plan to do, but the most important part is to have fun and enjoy this weekend away from all the choas of life.

Avery, ever growing and learning new things. She is quite the lady. Last night she learned to walk backwards at walmart, not sure if she already knew how, but its a first for us to see it! She doesn't do well with shopping since she wants to be all about running and throwing everything she can into the cart! Still our little lady. Here she is in her birthday dress. Hard to believe Thanksgiving is tommrow. We will have more photos for you to see then i am sure.

Avery and her third Halloween! Cannot believe how fast time goes by. Here we have our baby girl in her OSU outfit, sparkling of course. She was a bit nervous about the whole going to peoples houses and getting candy from them until she realized these people were handing her bowls of CANDY! So of course she liked it after that point, only made it to a few houses though before we were all tired out. Good though, we didnt get any trick or treaters at our own house. So we have a lot of left overs! Oy.

Another bit of excitment is that our little one is working on potty training and doing a great job at the process. She has already gone several times in the big toliet like mommy and daddy and knows how to tell us she is ready to go. Hard to believe but we know our little Avery is brilliant beyond her years! Our little princess :) We love her so much.

A week goes by faster than we ever expect it to. And as soon as another Sunday morning gets here i think about how the past week just flew and now its another week to begin. It was a good week though. We all have been busy. But for starters lets recap since i have not posted since before the birthday!

Avery had a blast of course with all the games and active fun. We started off with the games which we had two good ones to play. I had to herd the children away from the presents they were all eager to open and get them outside for a Thomas the Train pinata. It was one of those where you pull the strings and the candy falls out. It was fun. Then we played pin the number on the train engine which of course was another Train game. Somehow our lady bug theme was altered into a train theme. But its okay. Holly did make some adorable head band lady bug attenas for the kids. After games we went in for cake and presents! This time we did not have Avery tear through her own cake, she got to blow out the candle though.

She made off with a lot of clothes and toys as all children do after a birthday. There were so many guests, family and friends. We had a great time and Avery enjoyed her presents greatly. Still is too, of course the house has not recovered from the chaos just yet!

The week went by pretty fast along the way it always does. Thursday we went to a great Christian concert which was a lot of fun. I cant wait to take Avery to those someday. When she gets older it will be the right time. Then this weekend we had our family pictures done which i will share once they are ready. And today after Church we will carve the pumpkin! Sould be fun.

This morning two years ago, we were all filed with such excitment and anticipation for Avery's arrival into this world. Little did we know how much was on its way. Not only with the extended stay and anguish waiting for her to be well enough to go home, but with everything that has come since. This morning as i look at my little princess sleeping peacefully, all i can think about is how wonderful our Lord is for keeping her and making her better. She came out sick and had to be given air and food through tubes for so many days before she finally got better. Oh she did of course recover quickly and i said then what i know even better now, she is a tough kid and a fighter through and through. Still it was the worst kind of pain anyone could ever go through. I feel deeply for all of those little ones still there. We know the Lord is with each and every one of them.

So it is wonderful to Praise God on this Sunday morning and Avery's second birthday. Last night Hol and I stayed up and wrapped all her gifts from us, and from family out in California. She has a lot already which will be added to tommrow. I cant wait to get pictures! This kid has more pictures then anyone. I just havent gotten around to printing them like i should. Pappa Jim and grandma Joey came by for dinner last night and brought their gift. Its a little playset slide and whole thing. It has a basketball hoop too. She loves it of course. Its important with all the gifts she is getting to understand its more important that she has people in her life that love her then anything. We should be looking forward to family and friends celebrating more than anything. She is so wonderful and God is wonderful for blessing us with her.

We are ready with her lady bug slash thomas the train engine birthday party. Seems we have bought just a few things like a pinnata, and pin the number on the train engine. Anyway its all cute stuff, cant wait! Its going to be a fun day for Avery.

Birthday madness! With all the planning we are doing it still seems like there is more to do then we have time for at this point. Between the ballons, decor, gifts to wrap, and of course the house to clean. We just spent last week cleaning and now we have to do it again. The irony is keeping the house clean is pretty much the same kind of work i do all day anyway. Except i focus more on receiving parts and getting them to different assembly areas. But just the sames its all about putting things away. Avery is going to have the best birthday, should be fun for all. Seems like the list keeps growing of who will be there. A lot of kids of course, we have that to look forward to. Children are so much fun, they always have something to say. Avery with her cute little baby voice is learning new things everyday. I cant wait to give her all her wonderful toys and see what else she gets. Look forward to Sunday.

Avery had her first fall festival pumpkin patch and hey ride experience this past Saturday! We had a blast. It was daddys first hay ride too for that matter. Avery loved running around through the grass and finding her pumpkin. She is growing so fast and we cant wait for her birthday Sunday. Its ladybug theme. However she loves Thomas the Train Engine so much it would have almost been a better one. We will have to do that next year!

Adventures in the grocery store. I took Avery to get some food items we need at home, just me and the little one. Since she did not want to get in the cart i offered to push her around in one of those little kiddie carts shapped like the front of a car with a smaller basket. She enjoyed being pushed around. Though after a short while she decided she would have more fun getting out of the car and pushing it, then after she had it good and rolling she would jump back in. I am not sure but mommy thinks she is practing how to hot wire a car, a little early for grand theft auto. Anyway she was adorable as always. No pictures of this one though since for once i didnt have the camera.

Avery had moved up to the next room at her daycare. We have noticed since that change, we have a daugther who comes home with dirt in the strangest places. I guess she gets out into the sand more now and is learning how to potty train. Not that she is quite there yet, but she knows about it at least. The other problem we have had since moving her into a toddler bed is not being able to keep her in her room. No matter how tired she is once i lay her down on her bed she starts crying her head off and running into our room. Its so hard to not give in and let her sleep in the big bed. But its bad for her and she needs to learn. She climbs the gates i have put up so i really do not know what i should try. We will see what is ahead.

We bought a new computer which has the latest system on it so its pretty cool. I just like having a new system finally it seems like its been a while. I woudnt mind getting the other one fixed still but i wont make it a priority. At any rate its time for sleep so i will be getting to it now.

I turned 27 yesterday! I don't really feel too much older. Its good though to have a birthday every so often to remind you how precious life is. Life and people in it of course family and friends. I have my loving wonderful wife and daugther. They went through a lot of trouble getting a hold of the Kids Left Behind Audio Drama. Apparently it is out of print so they had to go through a website that sells out of print material. With the help of my sister in law and her hubby they got them downloaded to CD's. We pay for copyrights and everything. Its just so awesome i have wanted to listen to them for a long time. I never finished reading the kids series and since i have so much driving time, it works out great. Im going to start this morning! Avery also bought daddy a backpack for school since he needed a new one. The colorful bag just wouldnt do! I got a few other things and family came over to celebrate. All in all good. Other than the stomach flu but this morning i feel much better so I am going to enjoy a lot of cookie cake. Holly had them put an Ace of Spade's card on the cookie cake! Makes me smile. Wish we could get out to California and visit everyone. Well the time will come soon enough. For now we have the weekend ahead and a new job for Holly come Monday. So more stress to begin.

I finished Matthew in my Word of Truth and will begin James on Monday. I have been listening to the book in my car so i would have a general taste of it, now its time to start going through it more. Im off to get ready for the day...

Those words have finally left my mouth. Not only the words but the whole standing in the hall way pointing toward the room and expecting my daugther to walk her own two feet down and sit on her floor. Temper tantrums are not good, but they do happen. We have a kid of our own running around here now. After Church today she was holding her little frog and growling, makes me wonder what boy she hung out with at sunday school. Too adorable though, even if i had to send her to her room for time out. She came out on her own later and better behaved, for Avery. I bought her a new pet net to throw her animal toys into, its pretty heavy. Momma and daddy are so very loved. She gets so excited to see us, throws her arms around our necks, gives lots of kisses and just enjoys us so much. I love my daugther!

A new week begins, i believe my ninth week at my new job. Its actually working out nice, i enjoy walking around stocking, storying, logging all the material that comes in. Sure its a lot to do, but its all good. Plus i get home at a good time of night and actually see my family. Except for my class night and my Saturday class as well. I am talking Operating systems midweek and Strategies for Technical Proffessionals on Saturday. I am remembering how much work college life really is. I did it for five years, still it seems like its more. I was also madly in love with my new girlfriend which eventually became my wife. So i think i spent my first few years of college on cloud nine. Now i have Avery along with my Holly, so is there a cloud way above nine somewhere... I am there.

We went to a partnership class last night at the Pastor's house. It is all a part of our Church trying to get the people to know the church and what things about about. Its important to be a family of believers working in the community to serve. I like it a lot, everything about the church. Now its morning and my new day is starting. Holly is off this week in preparation for her new job which starts next Monday. Other than that, i turn 27 in a few days! Anyhow i best be getting ready now.

Exciting weekend for us all. We finally had our vacation and enjoyed a little time away. Since we are in the middle of so much job change and life stress it was a good plan to get away. So we left Avery with Grandma Joey and headed out to Branson. Holly and I were able to celebrate out five year anniversary, a few months late but still. We went to Silver Dollar city, got rained on, went shopping, saw a very funny Russian comedian. We also went to the Showboat, took a tour of the Titanic museam. So much to see so little time. All in all a great weekend. Avery had a lot of fun as well, she had her nails painted, made cookies, played in the yard, and started sleeping in a toddler bed. Our little darling is growing up so fast. Now we are here onto a new week and see what is in store.

Midweek and almost the end of the month. So we need some updates for our blog then do we not. Seems harder to post really, not that there is not a whole lot to say. We have been busy and there is much going on. My parents flew in last night and will be here a week. Its going to be great having them here, and gives them some good vacation time. Plus they get to see Avery which is a plus always.

Avery is growing more and more. She still loves the word 'No' and pretty much uses it for everything. There are other words she loves including her mimi blanket and her doggie or froggie, among other things she knows now. We bought her some foam letters for the tub, those are fun since they stick to the wall when wet. Daddy is trying to make her a castle but has not gotten very far in the process. I have been collecting cardboard tubes for this. We will see if i can get it done, i got some rope to tie them together but now i need to remember where i put that.

Our church is growing more and more, I went for a work day last weekend. That was fun. Avery enjoys going. She also likes prayin too with a hardy amen at the end. We love our little angel so much.

What a week but now it has come to an end. We had a lot of fun with Diane out, Avery most of all since she had a new toy to play with. But she had to fly home this evening to start back to school. She is going to be teaching 8th grade this year. It is always good to have family come out and we will be excited to see my parents in a few weeks and then hopefully head out there next Feburary. That is the plan currently of course. There is still time here and there and we we realized you can count on things changing. Still the Lord takes care of His own. Makes me sad and i hate goodbye, but we know soon enough the days just need to pass by. Meanwhile its still August and not has hot as it was. Avery and Hol and Diane went to see the fishies yesterday, that was good. Today we just hung out and enjoyed our time together. I wish we could see more of each other and not be so far apart, but that is how it works for now. I love my darling wife and baby girl and am so glad to have them by my side through each day.

Stuck in the morning calm, I am sitting at my computer looking at a blank page on my blog. Here only because sleep is always disturbed around this time in the morning so i figure I might as well get up and type. Things have been pretty busy and hot. After all it is summer so being in the tripe digits is not to hard to believe. This would be okay if it were not for the fact I work in a warehouse now with no AC. Just plenty of water and hard shipping work. Actually it is a good job that i do enjoy. I appreaciate the labor more now and look forward to fall which is approaching.

Meanwhile Holly's job continues to be keeping a float for the moment. We are busy trying to figure out what will be next but God will provide as He always has. This has been a trial for us and we are seeing the Lord move in many ways. Yesterday the builders told us they would give us our money back on the land we were holding onto to build. That is a blessing but its hard at the same time. The Lord will indeed someday give us a land but I believe it will be like the Children of Israel in the promise land, the house will be built and the garden will be dug. I look forward to that.

So last week we had Haylie's 19 birthday, Isaac turned 30, and Aydan turned 6. So we had a lot of cake. I also went and saw a movie with the guys after the party on Friday which was a lot of fun. I wish i hung out more with guys my age, i did not realize how much i miss that fellowship. I need more of that, must see about getting together again. Hol and Avery and I went to the zoo Sunday which Avery enjoyed greatly, she is getting more and more into seeing new things. Even those which she does not remember seeing before.

My big sis came into town Monday to spend the week with us and have a lot of fun with Avery along the way. The two of them have been enjoying themselves a lot. Mostly because Avery has a new toy, being her Aunt Diane. Even though I have to work its good for them to enjoy the time. Hol will take the two of them to see some fishy's Friday. Diane leaves on Saturday which is going to be hard. I really miss having her and the rest of the family around. Tommrow Hol and I celebrate eight years of dating which is exciting. Time goes so fast. Well much to do before the work day begins.

We had a tree house in our backyard that was there when we moved in two years ago. It stood back there unsafe for the most part as it did not look very sturdy and leaned up next to a tree in the yard. Well we kept it up thinking it would help sell the house, now that we have taken the house off the market for time being, we decided it was time for the tree house to come down as well. I made sure to never let Hollys sisters or neice on the tree house as well. Of course the neighbor kids were harder to control. The last thing we wanted was for someone to fall off it and us get in trouble.

So last night when i got home from work i did some mowing and then took care of our little sore thumb tree house. I took a shovel and put it under one of the legs. Then i gave it a shove and down it went. Suddenly I was very thankful i never let anyone play on it, for it to come down that easy made me glad it was down. OF course it fell so the next step was moving it to the curb. It was full of red ants and spider nests. The whole thing was unsafe and dirty. The neighbors behind us came out and helped us saw everything up and take it to the front. A couple Mormon kids even came by and asked if they could help, of course I was happy to have them move some stuff a little. Very good of them to be helpful, even if they are not on the right path. I pray they will find our Lord though.

Tree house down now we have a much nicer yard to look out at. And it will be better once we put a table out there or something else we can enjoy. Its great to have it down though as we really have not gone out in our yard much with it there. Now if i could just find a fence real cheap we would be all set.

Holly and I went and saw Mama Mia this evening> Great movie. I love being able to go out sometimes and movies are fun even though Avery is just a little too young for the movies just yet. There are plenty more movies out we want to see. But it was a great film, i look forward to Avery seeing it. Anyway I love my wife...

She is growing up so fast, time just slips by without even notice. Our little Avery the sweet and adorable one is always provbing she is a strong little girl. This so she has her blanket she calls mimi' and other toys she wont part with. She just loves those too much. Her routine is set and she enjoys having her mommy and daddy to love on her, along with everyone else. I am so thankful to have our little princess.

Things have been crazy around the Bowlby house these days. We took the house off the market since it is clear we couldnt sell it at this time and really due to other work issues its just not the right time anyway. God made that clear enough. I started my new job at the manufacturing plant Monday. So far its going well. There is a lot to learn but i think i am geting the hang of everything. Now we just need to get back on target. I will get some more time to post later. Between my classes and work though its hard to find any spare time anymore.

In July now and its getting to be even hotter around here. The fourth was good even though i was not able to enjoy it with my girls. They had to go to a family gathering in another town to far for me to join after work. I did however get to go enjoy some fireworks and food at my sister in laws inlaws house, that was a blast (pun intended). Anyway now i just look forward to starting my new job and hoping all works out well. Our house is still on the market and we are praying for it to sell so we can move into the house we want to live in. Its such a nice place. And this neighborhood and our neighbors are something to get away from. Well not all of them, but just enough. Meanwhile I look forward to seeing what is ahead. For me now its just taking one step at a time, with school a new job and hopefully a new house soon.

Just wanted to peek in here and give some exciting news. We are moving! A few blocks away to a better part of town. We have sold out house and found a perfect home to move into. The Lord has led us through this whole thing and we are very excited. Even in the midst of all that is going on with my job and that stress. Its good to see this open door for us to move finally. We have looked forward to it and know that this home will be good for us and Avery. Ill go into more later and keep you posted. We just signed a offer today on the house and its been accepted. So we are very thrilled.

Happy 5 year anniversary and Father's day. Yesterday we celebrated five years of marriage and all the Lord has done with us up to this point. What a wonderful thing we have each other and our darling Avery. We went out to dinner last night to an Italin resturante that served Hollys favorite ice cream dessert. I gave her a necklace with an A on it for Avery. It looks so good on her too. Today is Fathers day and we will head out to breakfast. Avery gave me a card and some books that will encourage me. I love my girls and am so blessed.

Another day is here, and once again I need to update this blog more often. I guess its just been busy with me working at the hardware store now. Its a good job, not to difficult and other then the schedual i like it for the most part. I am however looking into my options right now as far as my career goals. Im thinking about starting at a Technical school to get training in computers. I need to pray about it still but i feel it might be where i am supposed to go next. Seems i need to get another degree anyway to take care of my family. They are so wonderful. My darling wife and i have been married five years tommrow! What a thought. And of course my lovely daugther is growing too fast for her own good. Anyway just wanted to catch up a little here.

Despite everyting going on with us right now, Avery is growing and being as precious as ever. I am glad she is too young to see the stress and all that. Her latestest antics are getting her in trouble everywhere. She loves to get into everything she shouldnt be into and of course enjoys being silly. Still a girl of few words, her favorites are no, and nose. She says nose alot and points out where your nose is. She also knows shoes and several others. We got her to say please the other day as well. So its a learning experience for all of us. I got a job currently working as cashier for a hardware store in town. A job is a job for now while i try to figure out what God would have me do next. I dont know what direction i should go in. Meanwhile Avery is adorable.

Bus plant lasted me a day and a couple hours on tuesday. Now im off to look elsewhere still praying for right job to come along. Still trusting God to take care of us, I know He will and know He cared for our needs. Just gets hard in days like this when it seems dark, its hard to look past the darkness and see the hope of Jesus. But He is there and cares for our needs moment by moment. I just pray for a call any moment from someone saying they want to hire me. It just going to take time.

Well there is a lot going on around here right now as usual. At least things are better then they were. I had been down and out pretty much all week long, going into all sorts of places and being told no over and over. I have had the hardest time with the whole jobless thing. Finally thursday I went down to another staffing agency recommended by our Pastor. Several of the other guys in our Church went there and got on board with a School Bus manufacturing plant in town. Of course you start out temp and have to work to get hired. It is completly manual labor and very intense. But i feel its going to work out well and be the right place for the moment.

So this morning i woke up really early and drove into the plant. Feels strange in this different part of the world. I really have never done anything like this before so its very new and scary for me. But it felt good to work hard all day and get off at five. Now i just have to make sure i work hard so i can go from temp to hire. Its all about working hard, Im sure with the Lords help i can do it. Still i will keep my options open and still go for interviews if they come. And i also need to step up to the plate regarding my desire to teach. Everything about what we are going through now is for a reason and I want to not miss a moment of what God wants to do.

I love to see my precious Avery smile and my love. Its another birthday treat for Miss Avery. I know she doesnt understand all her daddy and mommy are dealing with. Thankfully for that. But still the lessons are important for her to learn as well. We must press through to what is ahead, not look back with any sorrow or regret. We need to see what God will do for He is faithful and loves us in every season of our lives. When we make mistakes and mess things up, He is always in control of even our own faults. I just hope that now I can do a good job where I am at and stick with it for now. It may last only a while, but hopefully teach me while I am there.

What matters most in this world is that i take care of my family as God has told me to. He has given me them and they are in my charge. So today i begin the process of trying to find another job. I really do not know how this is going to turn out one way or another. What is out there for me to do. He is in control. What makes me so sad is that i was finally in a place where i was able to be home with my family finally, and not things are going to change again. I had it all figured out. But i guess nothing is solid, anything can change on you. Except the Lord and His promises. At least He is faithful in all things. Even the hard things we have to do in life. He will keep us strong and going.

Sold. That is the sign outside our house at this time! I cannot believe how quick this whole thing has gone. It sold in 15 days, which is pretty amazing considering the market we are in right now. So we look forward to June 6th for closing. So the next step is getting the paperwork for the house we are wanting to build. Sounds like it should be a lot of work but worth every moment. We just praise God for this whole thing as He is watching over us. I know he will help us with each step ahead of us now. We just sit and trust in what He will do. I will keep you posted.

Its been a busy week for us of course that is nothing compared to what we are in for once this house sells and we are working on the new one. We had a few showings this week, not to many though. God is using this whole time to work on our faith and trust in Him. Like Peter on the shore waiting for a fish to bite. We just wait. Yesterday we had a showing which did go well and it looks like we might have the offer we have been waiting for. Now if all things do go as planned we could have this whole thing wrapped up in a month! Kind of scary when you think about it. But once more its all about putting our whole dependence on the Lord and trusting Him. He is faithful and cares about all things we do in this life.

Holly has begun her new position with her company and that means stress of course and a new office area. Its good though and she likes it so im glad. My job is going well too, i am still waiting to see what kind of schedual im going to land this coming quater. Hopefully a good one. Avery is more talkative these days. She went to the doctor and got a healthy report normal across the board. She is 33 inches and i think 26 pounds or 24.6, not sure. Eitherway she is talking and playing and being an adorable toddler. This weekend we have another showing with the same people who looked at it yesterday so we hope that goes well. We will head to Mema's today after some house chores.

You try keeping your house in perfect shape, clean and everything in order, day in and day out with a toddler running around. See how it goes. Its been crazy but really kind of exciting at the same time. Not only are we taking a big step of faith, we are learning there is nothing we can do but trust God completly for this. We really want to get some bites and for someone to want to buy the house so we can move and start building on the land. Of course we are also putting money down on that land this evening so that will be another big part of the process. Today since it is my day off i am mostly cleaning out the garage, getting the rest of the stuff over to storage. Of course there is not as much as there was before the sale, but still a lot. And some of it is hard to box up and store simply due to size and shape. But i am working with what i have. For the moment i am coming to you from a coffee shop enjoying some hot chocolate. Then after lunch with Holly i will return home and work more on the garage. The relators are supposed to come by and look at the house this morning. What a day, i just hope it doesnt rain, the clouds are looking a little dark out there.

Busy weekend so far for all of us. Last night we sat down with our agent and talked about selling the house and listing it to see what we come up with. Its a little nerve racking since we do not know if we will be able to get the price we want on it, or if it goes too fast that will push things even faster for us. All of this will be okay and should get insteresting in the days ahead.

This moring we got up at 3 and started getting our garage sale ready to go. We made about 200 by getting rid of a lot of junk we never use, knick knacks, and also a table, desk, some book shelves among other things. So it was a busy morning into the noon time. Then i took care of the lawn and moved two loads to storage. There seems to be still no room in the garage but i suppose that is normal given how empty our house is right now.

Now Avery is playing around the house with her cousin Charlie. Joey and her neice Leslie (Charlie is her daugther). Joey is just helping with some final touches to work we needed done. Its been a long day and tiring but productive very much so. We just pray now that the Lord will bless the sale of the house. That He will give us strength and wisdom in all things. To Him be the glory and praise.

Busy day yesterday, moving things around and trying to get the house ready to be sold. Its hard to believe how much stuff we have. Even more so there is stuff we have not done anything with in years. Hopefully we get rid of most of it this Saturday with our garage sale. Among other things yesterday I got the carpets cleaned, and had the elctricity worked on. The carpets look a whole lot better, but i was not too happy being mislead by them and having them add more to the carpet and then charging me for it after they were done. But at least its cleaner now. Holly did get the koolaid stain out this morning using an iron. She was able to get info online that apparently even the carpet pros could not handle. Last time i use Stanley Steamer, anyway.

Other than all that we also took Avery in for her post opp appt. She of course is doing perfect. Her ears are clear finally, i am so happy about that. Avery loved running around helping daddy with the house too, but mostly she just wanted daddys attention. We went to Rons Hamburgers for some late lunch. I also went and got a small storage unit. Then in the evening the three of us went to the area we want to build out home to pick out a lot. After talking with some of the neigbhors we chose lot 28. We will meet with the builder next week to put some money down on it. Its a great corner lot and I cannot wait to start the process. Of course we have a lot of moving to do with the stuff in our house and also selling our current house. We will work on that some more this Friday evening.

Exciting news for you today. Holly got a job promotion at work and is now the Benefits Administrator! I am so proud of my darling wife. This will be a great opportunity to start learning new things and experiences. It is hard to believe its been almost five years since we got married. Feels like shorter.

We are still busy cleaning and putting stuff up in boxes for storage. There is just too much of it and really i wonder what is important to keep. Since we do want the house to be ready to show off, there is a lot to get out of the way. We are 'staging' our house, or at least trying to. I trust the Lord in this because He is our Lord and Savior and will be with us in this adventure. We know our plans but we trust in the Lords Today we are going to put money down on the lot we want to build on. That is a big step and I believe He will be with us in this.

Last Tuesday we removed all pacifiers or 'biki's' from Avery's reach. She is offically growing up and is ready to move on from them. She does not agree of course but is learning she has no choice.

This week has been pretty busy. We have mostly been cleaning the house with the direct emphasis of our bedroom first. That was a lot of work but the other rooms in the house will be somewhat more. All of this to try stagging the house to sell. At least that is the plan. We hope to be able to sell it on our own to avoid realtor fees, but we will see what we can do.

Yesterday we took five bags of cloths to Salvation Army. Went to Charity's 25th birthday party. And then did more cleaning. Avery did have her check up on her ears and the doctor said she is doing great, her tubes are doing their job. So we are happy. It will be fun to see her pick up new words. Its busy around here now and we are learning to trust God in everything we have ahead. There is so much. Trying to sell we need to put our faith in the Lord for His goodness.

I will mention last night while i was cleaning up the sound system, i noticed several things ratteling around in the large speaker. Avery apparently snuck five eggs and a peg from her pegboard into the hole. I guess it was her little hiding place. It was adorable. I know she has stuck her binki's down there before. Well i will keep you posted on the events ahead.

We bought Avery a little puppy backpack that has a long tail we can hold onto while we go for walks. She actually really likes it and thinks its fun. Of course she also thinks we feel like going outside and enjoying it more than we do. She is adorable and doesnt understand when its too cold or we are too tired, or we just came back from a walk. Its fun anyway. Life is busy around here. We spent last weekend doing yardwork. I took a sledge hammer to the privacy fence, what was left of it. Now we need to get some quotes on putting up a chain link one. After that we will see what we can do around this house to make it less cluttered. Our house is getting smaller by the day though and we are thinking of putting it on the market and finding a new one. This of course will require a lot of work on our parts. I have no idea how to sell a home. We are thinking if we can sell it we will move in with friends or family for a few months while we build a house. That would give us time to save up for it anyway. Thats the major goal and of course we are still praying for Gods leading in all of this. So keep us in your prayers and pass your ideas along if you have some.

Yesterday was actually very productive around here. It helped that we had hollys mom and sister elizabeth come over to work on mowing the yard and trimming. Holly had already done some weed eating so now our yard looks great. Its a large yard and we both do not want much of a yard next time. Avery enjoyed the time hanging outside while we worked. In other news i also tore down the privacy fence with a sledge hammer. Half of it was gone from the ice storm anyway so this just finished the job. I like the yard better that way. We will get some quotes on putting up a chain link fence.

The lawn mower actually does have a small problem, the door for the grass removal is broken so it just flys right up at you while mowing. I have to find a way to fix that before next week. Also our new propane grill lost a wheel while rolling it into the garage. So that has to be returned now sadly. Just have to buy a new one i guess. I know Holly is looking forward to grilling this summer.

All else has been busy as usual. Avery did get her ear tubes and is doing well now. She gabbles and has said a few words repeating us. She loves saying bye and waving at people though. That is adorable. Shes growing so fast and we need to start her summer wardrobe soon. We have some clothes we bought from an ebay aution, they should arrive soon hopefully. Then we will need some more outfits for our wild girl who will no doubt spend a lot of time wandring around outside. She loves the fresh air. Well enough for now. Its April and that calls for thunderstorms. Not today though, but im sure they will be on their way soon.

Easter egg hunting was a great joy for little Avery both at Grannys and at Memas on Sunday. We also enjoyed coloring eggs too. Tuesday came and Avery had her big ear tube surgery. The doctor also removed her adenoids which needed to come out. When she is older she will need the tonsils removed as well. She did really well with the surgery

Life with our 17th month old has been exciting and busy as ever. Tuesday we had appoinments with the ear doctors and they agreed she needs to have ear tubes put in to help her ears. She still has fluid built up and it doesnt want to drain out so we need to get some tubes and her andnoids taken out as well. It was strange for daddy to take her into get her ears tested and sit in the little room. I can remember those sound proof rooms very well, though it was me being tested for the longest time. I still get an occasional test. Anyway Avery and daddy spent all day in tulsa in between appoinments since we drove mommy to work. We took a trip to the movies to see Horton Hears a Who. It was a lot of fun and well done. Avery enjoyed her snacks and crawling around gabbing away. She made it right up to the last 10 or 15 minutes and then decided she wanted to roam around more and whine. But we did enjoy the day.

Good Friday was the first warm day we have had in weeks and we enjoyed going out and getting some sun. A little too much for mommy as she got her first sun burn for the year. We took along Lindsey and her kids as well who are a little older in years then Avery, 3, 4, and 5 i believe. We went to the park and the zoo which was overly crowded. We saw Elephants, Giraffes, giant turtles which Avery loved, and other animals. It was a great time.

Today we went to see Granny and enjoy the church easter egg hunt. Avery was eager to start but it took her a while to figure out what she was supposed to do with the eggs and basket. After a while she got into it and loved it more. It was nice to spend the afternoon out there. Tommrow after morning service we will head to memas for lunch and another egg hunt. All of this to celebrate the Risen Lord. This evening we also dyed easter eggs. This was Averys first time to do so and first egg hunt other than daddy carrying her around last year to get the eggs. Our darling Avery is growing up so fast.

Where did the time go? I'm really not sure, Avery took off somewhere with my watch. And now all i can think about is how to get the bannanas out of the carpet while trying to convince Avery not everything goes in the mouth. We sure have had our moments with our little one these days which makes things busy. There has not really been too much to report or we have just doing other things. Mostly from sun up to sun down its all about taking care of Avery to and from day care or doing our day jobs. Avery does enjoy day care of course and now that its warmer she can go outside.

One thing we are concerned with is that her speech skills are behind for her age due to ear infections and other things. We are taking her to a ENT doctor to have them give us some advice, possibly getting tubes in her ears. Hopefully that works since we want our little one to be able to talk to us. Of course she has understanding down pretty well and can pretty much get the point across without words. If she wants food she goes into the kitchen and points to her high chair, then shakes her head at every food choice we put in front of her. So maybe a word or two could help. We will see how that goes, right now its schedualed for two weeks.

As for the yard, the city finally came and picked up the tree mess left over from the ice storm. And our neighbor came by and cut down our trunk in the front yard for us so that was a blessing. Seems like i have a lot of work ahead of me though now regarding the yard mostly and house work. Busy bees that is us. At least we have had the Gilmore girls to get us through the winter, now we are in the final season and spring is upon us. You know its spring when the thunder storms start rolling in. So fun. So wet.

Dinner last friday was really good. We went on to spend the weekend at home since we were all still feeling pretty sick. This time of year is not good for our health at all. I look forward to the spring time. I even got out the Easter eggs and decorations for the house already. So now if it would just start warming up outside that would be great. We also still have a load of limbs in front of our house waiting for the city to pick them up. Its a mess really.

Avery likes to play with phones now or anything that could be a phone. She puts it up to her ear and sometimes you can hear her say hello on it. She just jabbers away shes so adorable. Still not talking to much more than momma and dadda, but shes still young so im sure she will catch on to the other words soon enough.

Avery got her first really bad flu this past week, running fever for days and getting two ear infections. So she wasnt doing very well but is not better and back in daycare. Of course she doesnt want to be and is very spoiled from being at home with us all weekend and for the first part of the week. I dont blame her for wanting to be in our room at night though since it gets cold in hers. Even with the attic insulation the walls still let in a lot of cold air.

Today is valentines day and i cannt wait to go home and be with my sweet heart and little princess. So adorable and precious those two are. I love them so much. We are going out to dinner tommrow most likely so i do not know what tonight looks like just yet.

Avery had her first experince running around through the snow this weekend at Granny's house. There was not much left but it was enough for her to see it, though i think she was more thrilled to be outside running around than anything else. She really enjoyed being free to roam and enjoy everything she could see. She got a taste of the outdoors. It was warmer on sunday so we did go for a walk as well she enjoyed that.

Holly found out a little more on what happened with the whole child biting incident last month. A little boy stole her toy so she grabbed his hair, bit him and pushed him down. Im glad my little girl knows how to stick up for herself at age 1. Daddy is proud, though i dont think bitting is always the best way to settle problems. Still we love our baby girl.

So we started out the weekend crawling around our attic to see what the status of our insulation was, and it really does need work. We priced getting the job done ourselves and decided its better to just hire someone to take care of it, so that will be out next project, finding someone to install new insulation, and hopefully get it warmer in our house finally. Saturday evening we dropped Avery off with Hollys mom and the two of us went to a hocky game! It was a lot of fun. We went because i am a part of the 212 degree club at work. That means i have sold over 20 phones in one month during the latest drive to sell. There are about 7 of us and most of us where at the game. The tickets were free along with a free hotdog, popcorn and drink. We also got a picture with the mascot and a gift bag incluing a offical hocky puk. Everyone should have one of those. Anyway it was a lot of fun and we enjoyed it. Sunday was church and then we headed to Hollys grandmas house for some lunch. Its good to go out there and visit, even an hour away.

We also finished up season two of Gilmore girls and are now in the mist of the third season. Its really a lot of fun to catch up on it, and since the writers are on strike there is not much else on anyway. So it works out well. Its Monday now and we are back to work, i look forward to warmer weather and seeing Miss Avery grow even more, she is so amazing. We love her so much.

Our little Avery is growing ever so quickly. She is finally fitting into size four diapers now, tonight is her first one and it seems to work a lot better so far. She had a short stop at daycare this morning and then i took her to the doctor to get some shots. After that of course we spent the afternoon resting from that experince. Then Holly got in the pool with her tonight for swim class and now we are home tired as always at this time of day. We just finished up bathtime and I got Avery in her diaper and sleeper, then she walked back into the living room and crawled into mommys arms on the couch, where they are both now falling into sleep mode. I love my girls!

In other news we are in the middle of watching Gilmore girls season two and enjoying that a bit. We never got into the show when it was on air, but now Diane got us hooked and we are catching up with netflix and on abcfamily. Its been fun so far and with this writers strike with no end in sight, its good to have something else to watch on tv. I just wish my schedual worked out better for me. I got some nice awards for sales among others from work this morning at our account service rally. Its a lot like a highschool pep rally, only no cheerleaders or Jon dressing in goofy atire. Anyway it was fun. I hopefully will continue to do well and earn a good shift next time, that will be this summer.

The ice storm last month has left its toll on the whole state, and of course our yard. I am still working on getting that cleared up and hopefully will soon. I just need to get a chain saw or something to take care of it, its going to take a lot of work, im ready to move! That will be a while though so i mine as well enjoy where i am at and get some yard work done. Of course that will be after it warms up a little or at least night tonight as its time to head to bed.

A lot of changing going on around here lately. Hollys getting some new managers at work. I have a new schedual which now leaves me with tuesdays off and Averys swim class moving to Saturday. Its down in the teens with the wind chill even colder outside right now. The only thing that didnt get changed was Averys diaper Thursday night. Daddy forgot to put a new one on Thursday night after bathtime. Thats right we just zipped the pj's right up without even thinking about it. Avery of course let me know around midnight or so when i went to comfort her late night crying as usual. I rocked her for a bit then as i was putting her back down realized her sheets and blanket were a little wet. So now we know not to do that.

Avery had her first trip to the libary today. There was a story and music time there so we got to go and enjoy some nice reading and music. She enjoyed it, mostly because they gave her some pretzals to snack on and she liked watching the other little children play. It was for children under three so they were all about the same age. Hard to believe how fast she is growing up though. So beautiful too.

We decided to redo out bathroom in yellow and green this time around. We were going to do orange but never found the right shower curtian for it. But i like what we have now. Avery of course helped us put the curtian together along with enjoying helping mommy and daddy with everything. She loves to help and play with whatever we are doing. She follows us around the house and gets very excited when she wants to. I love our little girl!

It is rather crazy going from such a nice vacation right back into work and business. We both worked on Wed which was a hectic day for us since there was so much piled up. Thursday i spent the morning taking all the tree limbs and stacking them on the side of the road and out of our yard. That ice storm really did its job on our trees, and i cant get all the damaged limbs down on my own.

Avery had her first fit of agression at daycare. The teacher says she pulled hair, pushed and bit someone. She has already started biting at daddy for a while. Really she just does it when her teeth are coming through and we we saw last night she has three molars coming in the back to go along with the other one she has in the back top left of her mouth. We need to watch her when she bites though so she knows its wrong. Its not easy to discipline your child or make sure they know when they did something wrong. Hopefully we dont have to do it often.

This weekend Hollys step brother is back from Iraq so we are going to head on over to her dads to celebrate Christmas and enjoy seeing him and his wife and two sons. Should be fun.

I dont know what God has ahead for us, i do thank Him for life though and family. Its good to have those we can hold onto. Holding on to my daugther and my wife is awesome. It is a beautiful thing.

Matthew 6:12

And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.
Matthew 6:12

Jesus calls us to pray for forgiveness, this is something we should keep in the front of all our prayers with the Lord. The forgiveness we must ask for first is that of our own sins. Before Jesus in prayer all things are brought into the light. All of your thoughts, feelings, attitudes are magnified under the lens of His Holiness. Its important for us to set ourselves on the right path by first asking for help with our failings. 

The forgiveness that we have is not conditional upon forgiving someone else. We are forgiven because Jesus Christ paid for our debts. Because we are forgiven we should forgive. It works the way everything else does. You respond in kind to the way you have been treated. This goes right along with the mercy we talked about earlier. You give what you have been given, but Christ is not going to keep you from forgiveness. He already offered full pardon from the cross.

We all want to be forgiven when we make mistakes. Even more we should want to forgive because it allows freedom to enter into our own lives. Darkness will creep in and take over a heart that does not forgiven. Sin loves those kinds of hearts. Once we given up the things that the Lord asks of us to give, we will be free. He gives us freedom when we forgive both to the one who sinned against us, and to ourselves.

Happy New year! 2008 is finally here and its hard to believe how fast the time goes. The vacation for that matter as we leave today to head back home. It was great spending time with family and friends though. Avery enjoyed playing in the backyard running in the grass and enjoying the sunshine and warm weather. We get to go back home to the cold though, so we can look forward to spring.

We went to the service last night at WOL which was real good, Avery made it through most of it anyway, the worship part. Then we came home and had some good food and headed to bed. Now we get to go on another long flight which hopefully wont be to much trouble. So much to take care of when we get home with work and our yard from all that tree damage.

God is bringing us into a new year with new opportunites in store for us. I pray that it will be a blessing to us and we will grow as a family closer to each other and to Him.