Recent Harley Stories

Harley has been asking lately if it is hard to be a mommy or daddy. I have tried to explain that while I LOVE it, yes it is hard. I explained that there are a lot of decisions to be made, we have to try and teach the right lessons, and make sure that they see us making the right choices ourselves, and most importantly apologizing and trying to fix it when we do something wrong. She decided that it was going to be too hard so she is not going to have children. I tried to explain all of the good and fun things too, but she said that she still didn't want to have any children. Then she decided further that she is going to go to college, live life, and then come back to live with me and Randle like her Aunt Julia. It cracks me up. Apparently, to Harley at least, Aunt Julia has quite the life. After Randle asked her some more questions, it seems that she wants to travel and see a lot of places, and just never get her own house, or get married. She said she didn't' need a husband. Well, I am glad she has her life planned out at the age of 5. It should make everything a lot easier to have it all planned out. She is a funny little girl.

Easter, Softball, and a Little Family Quiet Time

Jousting

We celebrated Easter all weekend long this year, although it all started off with a softball game. Through out the whole weekend we tried to talk with the girls about why we celebrate Easter and why we choose to skip the whole Easter Bunny tradition. They still get a basket, it just comes from us. By the time we gave them our baskets they were exhausted and probably overwhelmed. They had then received gifts from 2 sets of grandparents, and one set of great-grandparents. They could not wait however, to start their little flowers that we got them. I am going to try and let them plant them tomorrow, and update photos of their flowers growth with pictures that they take.

PT and Rabbit (my favorite part)

We started with the Easter Egg Hunt at church, there were so many people. The kids had a blast hunting eggs, jumping in the bounce houses, jousting, and the sticky wall. The KOR Drama group did a GREAT job on their human video. We were so proud of them. When asked Harley said her favorite part was when the glow people came out during the program. Natalie's favorite was jousting with her friend. Randle even got a chance to joust.

After all of the fun at church and helping clean a little we went to Randle's dad's house. One of our nieces and our nephew were over so the kids got to hunt eggs with them. They ran all over Gramp's and Nana's house until it was time to shower and go to bed. Although I think we put them to bed somewhere around 9:30 Natalie and C were still awake at 11:30 when we were going to bed. Harley and M however, were out cold, neither one remembering that they were moved when they woke up in the morning. We went to Randle's sister's church to see her in their Easter program. It was really good. She was in a women's drama group that did two songs. She did really well. Natalie was impressed with her facial expressions. (I think she has been to too many KOR Drama practices)

Hunting Eggs at Mamaw and Pawpaw Catfish's

After the church service we went to my grandmother's house to have lunch. The girls had fun playing with their other cousin V, and hunting eggs again. They also had fun watching the baby J, run around after eggs. We spend a good bit of time after hunting eggs outside taking family pictures. We were exhausted and had not been home since the day before so we left a little early. On our way home we decided to stop on Hwy 25 at some big boulders on the top of the mountain. Natalie has been begging us to stop their as a family for quite some time. We were probably their for about 30 or 45 minutes taking pictures again. I was just planning on taking pictures of the girls, but Randle got my camera and decided that I should have my own personal photo shoot. I tend to take the pictures, so we usually have a lot of everyone but me. He made up for this in one day. We got a lot of really good shots, and I am going to upload more of them later.

Harley came up with this pose soooo sweet!

Natalie actually took this photo of us!

More of Natalie's Adventures

Natalie has been requesting for me to take her shopping for a training bra for about two months now. I asked a couple of moms with older girls when they started wearing them. I had one friend tell me her daughter had NO modesty until she started wearing them and then she became SUPER modest.

Well, I finally gave in and took her shopping. We went to Target (they had the most selection). I let her choose matching underwear to go with them. She was very proud and excited. We all know that underwear that doesn't come in a package is oh, so much more fun. Well, we made it to the car and she immediately put on her new "clothes". SO FUNNY. She had to call her dad and tell him. You know how dad's LOVE this part of their little girl's growing up. He was very good and acted excited for her. He was excited on one hand, but of course sad on the other, because it is one more step to her growing up. (He is much more sentimental in these areas than I am)

We left Target and went straight to JBQ (Junior Bible Quiz) Semi-Finals.We hadn't been there long and I I very quickly found out that unlike my friends daughter she has lost all modesty and makes a very quick announcement as soon as she gets all the girls together, and even shows them in the cabin. I had to inform her that while it is fine to be excited and share this with our girlfriends, (we all know that this kind of sharing is vital in a circle of girlfriends) we have to make sure that there aren't boys or men around and that we should not be showing at all. She got all embarrassed and snugly. Then ran off and of course had forgotten the whole conversation by the next day when sharing with her aunt. She goes back to school on Tuesday and I am sure there will be lots of giggling and sharing over her new "items" with the girls there.

I absolutely LOVE the excitement and sense of adventure during all of these changes, lessons and experiences that Natalie has. She is of course longing to grow up much faster than she should, but doesn't argue too much when we pull back. She will be 8 this Thursday. It doesn't seem that long ago that we were enrolling her into Kindergarten, enrolling her into Preschool, moving to Indiana to start a new life without any family around, or even sitting at Brookwood Hospital waiting for her to be born. All of these very important milestones in our lives and her life. All of these things seemed like they would last forever, and yet here we are entering into her eighth year of life. We have had some hard times, and lots of great times. I wouldn't change any of them, because they are making her the person she will be, and us the family we are. Natalie has a huge heart, and values friendship. She chooses her friends very carefully. She loves God, and wants to obey and serve him. She has entirely too much knowledge for her own good and is so very intuitive. I can't wait to see what God brings about in her life. As for now, she is a little girl, who loves a lot and wants nothing more than to have fun.

Simple Pleasures

I am becoming quite the copy cat. I saw this on Life with the Bittengers and decided to follow suit.

My Lifes Simple Pleasures

1. Watching my girls sleep
2. Listening to Harley make up stories in her head when she doesn't think I am listening
3. Randle's excitement when planning a new program
4. Sitting in our new (hand-me-down) chair by the wood burner
5. Listening to Natalie read to Harley
7. A Brand new notebook (why yes I am a nerd)
8. School/Office Supplies
9. Clearance Sales
10. A bubble bath while watching Hulu
11. A freshly bathed Emma Rose (my dog)
12. Hearing our rooster crow throughout the day.
13. Brand new socks (yes, I'm weird)
14. Sitting outside in the cold drinking fresh coffee
15. Family Game Night
16. Restaurant Night (Left over night)
17. My girls' creativity
18. New Food Night (trying a new dish, or completely new food)
19. 1/2 off day at the Salvation Army
20. Shopping with a friend



I could go on and on I think. I am amazed at all of the little things God has given me to smile about. Thanks Jinger for the idea, I will use this list to remind myself of all the things I have to be thankful for and that God is present in everything I do. Even giving me a brand new notebook to write in.

Goals

So, I saw this on my friend's Bethany Herrington's) blog and decided to copy.


Organize the office
Keep my bedroom clean
Go through the girls toys and eliminate some
Cook at least on new recipe a week
Use more organic foods in cooking
Get to a size 14/16
Do a deeper devotion
Go through the Kindergarten Hooked on Phonics with Harley (before fall)
Knit 3 Christmas gifts
Get back on track with my e-bay endeavor
Visit Indiana
Take a family trip to Gulf Shores


I will have to put some more thought into this and add as I go! Thanks Bethany for the idea, now, hopefully I will be more inclined to finish these!

Bathroom Troubles

Our landlords decided to put on a new roof, YEAH. We were so excited. It is a metal roof, too. While the guys were working on the roof, my bathroom got a mind of its own and completely shut down. If you flushed, the bathtub had water come up out of the drain, if you washed laundry, you had water fill the toilet and come up out of the drain in the tub. So we tried a snake, and couldn't get it to work. Thankfully, the guys working on the roof found an outside cleaning point and got the drains cleared, and fixed the toilet drain so that it drains better. While the were here they decided to retile the bathroom floor.
OK, so week before last, I was changing the position of our shower head (from low for the girls to high for me) and it broke off in my hand. The shower arm was plastic and it apparently did not like being moved. So Randle and I tried several different things to remove the piece inside the pipe and failed miserably. So our efforts now stopped so that we could focus on the tile. One night we took out the sink, toilet, washer dryer, etc. When we removed the sink one of the pipes snapped off and shot water EVERYWHERE! I ran and turned off the water, we put the girls to bed and then Randle ran to Lowe's. We got the pipe fixed, but it wouldn't stop dripping, so Randle had to buy more plumber's tape and another piece. WOW!! Then we broke up all the tile. The next day, while I waited for the guys who were putting in the tile to come, I went ahead and removed all of the broken tile and put it on the porch. Well FOUR days later, they finally finished with the tile, so I moved the washer and dryer back in. In the mean time Randle tried a few more things to remove the broken shower arm. He finally ended up using a torch and melting it out.
Well, I thought I was really smart and decided that I didn't need to wait for Randle to come home to put in the washer and dryer. So I carried them into the bathroom by myself, and hooked them back up. The dryer went fine, the washer, not so much. First, I hooked the hosed up backwards (hot to cold and cold to hot). Then I didn't' attach them well, so when I did my first load, the bathroom flooded AGAIN! I mopped up my mess and retried. I flooded again, the guys came in to hook up my toilet and tried to help, and said I needed new hoses. So Randle brought home new hosed and we washed again. It still dripped. So he finally got it fixed and I can now wash almost 2 weeks worth of laundry. I was seriously running out of clothes.
So after my washer adventure, I decide I can hang a door. I think I dropped the stupid thing onto my head about four times. It is up and hanging very well. Finally, 1 point for me!
So tonight I put in my shower head, and guess what NO LEAKS! Yeah, 2 points for Katrina! Now the guys are retiling the girls bathroom. Can't wait to see what trouble I can cause in there! J/K

A Remembering of the Lessons of 2009

God is always amazing me. One of the things that He (God) is working on me with is faith. It has been the major theme of my life and lesson I have been learning this past year. With Randle going from unemployed, to a temp job, to a side job, and back to the temp job, my faith has been stretched. When Randle lost his job originally, I thought I was trusting God by moving to AL. Then when we were waiting for the temp job to start I again, thought I was trusting, but all along, I had been only partially trusting. I had every expectation of Randle getting a job. I am now beginning to realize that my trust must be fully in the Lord and that He will supply everything we need in His time, and in His way. So far he has supplied through friends, family and temp and side jobs. NOT a permanent position. Every time the bills come due He has supplied the money for them. Last week I did the budget several times and couldn't get it to work. Finally (which is embarrassing to say, b/c I should have done this at first) I put it down and prayed that He just supply everything we needed. Last night when I sat down to rework the budget again, everything worked out. It is what I like to call God Math. He seems to change the numbers to where everything works even though the numbers don't seem to work before. It has taken me longer than it should have, but I think I am beginning to learn my lesson. I am very happy to say this. To learn a lesson and move on to the next is always exciting.

With 2010 fully here, I know it will be filled with new lessons, revelations and adventures. 2009 was quite the adventure for our entire family. I can't wait to see what this year brings. I have seen Randle grow in great strides closer to God. I have seen Harley begin to ask questions that show she is getting a deeper knowledge of Gods Word. Natalie's longing for more knowledge of God and His Word is very steadily growing. Natalie has also begun to realize more fully the difference in believing and accepting God are two different things.

I am thankful for both the blessing and lessons God has given us this year. I hope that He continues to lead us in the path He has for us!