The Chilsons

This is the squash the Lord has made...

2011-05-25T07:31:00.002-04:00

This is now the third year that we have attempted to have a garden. Like most great pursuits, this garden always starts out each year with a bang and ends with a fizzle. Life circumstances seem to work much like the weeds in a garden and end up choking the life out of good intentions on the not-so-necessary home garden.

However, this year seems to have gotten off on the right foot and with the green thumb. Now, I will not attempt to take the credit for this because I have not done anything greatly different from years past with the lone exception of having added acceptable table scraps to the compost pile that we had been tending over the course of the fall and winter. And that seems to be where this year's garden adventure has begun. Not in expanding the size of the garden, or putting more into the planning of row spacing/layout, or even buying some budget organic "kow" manure compost, but in the humble compost pile that is adjacent to the burn heap that the landlords maintain. It is there that some yellow summer squash seed that was haphazardly added during the cold months decided to awaken and burst forth into small ambitious sprouts yearning for a chance to show off their stuff. And have they ever: I now have three and a half very healthy rows (the half row was from me failing to successfully transplant some of these volunteer squash) of the biggest squash plants that I have seen. (Keep in mind that this is my third year, I'm a tad new at this, and I get excited about this fairly easily). Nevertheless, these look great! Now just to keep the squash bugs on the hit list and we might just see some very healthy looking yellow squash in just a couple o' weeks. So we wait and squash the squash bugs--squishily.

The humble compost pile.

The healthiest plant of all is the one growing beside the compost and it has a bloom!

The little helper and her little man.

Rows of yummy goodness.

not forgotten!

2010-08-27T14:07:00.001-04:00

Just so you know, baby photos are on the way! I know you think I forgot about the blog, but they are coming :) Maybe today, maybe tomorrow.....

Easter 2010

2010-04-04T20:41:00.003-04:00

Here are the photos we took for Easter today! Hope you enjoy!

Lydia's first Shiner...

2010-03-21T21:13:00.003-04:00

The photos speak for themselves :( She had a little accident on the playground at church today....

Please don't think I have forgotten about my blog(s) I trying to keep you up to date on the big stuff...I'll do better one day...maybe ;)

They WON!!

2010-02-20T20:26:00.005-05:00

So tonight was the big father-son bake off at our church! Last year was the first one ever and you can see what my clan created and the post about that here. This year, we were blessed to have it in our new gym! What a great night of fellowship with our church family! This is becoming something I look forward to every year! This year it was esp. fun b/c once everything was done we all got to hang out and play together! It was a GREAT night and everyone had a blast! But I must admit, the most exciting part to me is that MY BOYS WON!! YAY for them! They won first place in the preschool division. As you can see they made cupcakes. Joshua was set on chocolate cupcakes and chocolate icing (I don't have any clue where he got that ;) ) At the competition they had to decorate their creation in thirty minutes. Matt frosted the cupcakes, Joshua added the grass and Asher added the Easter eggs. They were FABULOUS! They were judged on creativity, taste and teamwork! I am SO proud of my boys! As you will see all the mom's had to stay on the observation deck and watch! We had a GREAT time! You can see all the fun-

We interupt this silence...

2010-01-30T09:42:00.003-05:00

To bring you SNOW!

I haven't been able to take too many photos at all since it is just me and the kids today. Matt had to work :( However, we have gotten about 4 inches of snow and now there is a TON of sleet. It is supposed to be VERY cold in the next couple of nights, so it may stay long enough for us to get some more photos!!

Other Random photos, I don't think I have shared

2009-12-10T12:45:00.004-05:00

The Roberts!

2009-12-10T12:24:00.005-05:00

Now that they are about to visit again, I thought I might just share what our last visit looked like!! Matt has some pictures from his ride with Nathan...those will have to come later :) But for now, enjoy!

Three Little Monkeys

2009-11-24T21:19:00.002-05:00

This is awesome! Please be sure to watch all three :)

Family

2009-11-24T20:21:00.004-05:00

These are the photos from the weekend! Jodi and Daddy took most of these, and I love them!! I know many of you are still waiting on photos from the weekend with the Roberts...they are coming...one day! But in the mean time, enjoy these!

MORE PHOTOS

2009-11-07T20:23:00.006-05:00

Just Photos!

2009-11-07T13:15:00.007-05:00

There are a few more on Matt's phone that I will hopefully add tonight, until then here are some to enjoy. Sorry it took so long to post.

Update

2009-08-30T21:13:00.004-04:00

Just a few photos to show you what we have been up to...

Long time!

2009-08-16T14:48:00.006-04:00

I guess blogging regularly is not an option for me. As I type this I am sad by how long it has been since I last blogged. I am sure there could be good reasons this time, but as usual, there are always excuses. I would like to think that I will get better, but things do not promise to slow down any time in the near future.

Matt starts back to school one week from tomorrow, so that is very bitter sweet. We are so excited that God has again provided for Matt's tuition for this year, and can not wait to see what this year holds for him. He will be taking Hebrew this year which will be all new to us. I am excited about that and pray that he enjoys it as much as he did Greek!

Joshua, Asher and I will begin school on the same day daddy does. We are very excited about it and I just pray that we enjoy our time and that God will make it clear to us through this school year if homeschooling is for us or not.

Lydia, has been very busy. She is now fully walking, and into everything. She apparently is allergic to something, though we don't know what...she had a minor outbreak of welts on her sweet little legs. She looked like she got into a fight with a mosquito and the mosquito won! We are praying that it was just something random and it won't happen again!

I have been helping with a ministry that is focused on teen moms and I have really been enjoying that. I have also just been overwhelmed with trying to get us ready for the new school year and praying that God will help me to see what is most important and focus on those things.

Please pray for our family. The last few weeks have been very hard for us. We have had friends going through very hard times, friends who are moving and friends and family who have been sick. We have been (and are) very heart-broken for our friends/family and our church family. It has seemed to be never ending. We know that God is still in control and are so thankful that NONE of this has taken Him by surprise. Though we have been caught by surprise MANY times, God was not. His plan is still in place and we are so thankful that He is in control.

A Day at the Beach!

2009-07-29T11:57:00.003-04:00

We made a spur of the moment trip to the beach yesterday and we had a blast! We went to Hammock Beach State Park and took a ferry (which was more like a party barge!) over to an undeveloped island called bear island. There were very few people there and it was VERY nice. We had a great day as a family! It was WONDERFUL!
Enjoy the photos!

Cow Appreciation Day 2009

2009-07-10T19:38:00.003-04:00

The boys helped me make our costumes and all five of us ate for free tonight at Chick-Fil-A! It was awesome! Matt and I both had Chick-fil-A sandwich combos, the kids all had kids meals and best of all IT WAS COMPLETELY FREE!! The kids had a blast! Enjoy our little herd!

The Cake

2009-07-10T10:02:00.002-04:00

Need I say more :)

The Birthday (Lydia's)

2009-07-10T09:20:00.004-04:00

I am just not very quick about this posting thing...life has been full and fun over the past few weeks and we have just been busy...BUT we did go swimming for Lydia's birthday and here are a few of the photos! Hope you enjoy!

Lydia!

2009-06-22T14:49:00.001-04:00

This should have us caught up! I will hopefully post really soon some birthday photos, but this brings you up to date! Oh, and so you will fully appreciate the photo of Lydia in the dump truck...she got there all by herself...that seems to be a favorite spot for her...go figure! :)

Asher...

2009-06-22T14:44:00.002-04:00

Joshua

2009-06-22T14:37:00.002-04:00

Around...

2009-06-22T14:29:00.004-04:00

These are just a few around and about our house! The flower was outside my kitchen window...we have the BEST land lords, and they take great care of our yard! The ones of me on here are just to show that I do exist...I sometimes get in trouble for not posting photos of myself much :) Then the one of Matt and Joshua...I just think it is funny!

The visit!

2009-06-22T13:47:00.004-04:00

Nana and Papa Ralph came to visit. They were only here for three days, but we had a blast! So much so that we forgot to take photos...very common in our house :) On their last day I finally brought out the camera and here are a few of our favorite shots...(by the way...I included a few of me, sitting in the shade enjoying watching the kids play and make crafts...just to show I can just sit and enjoy sometimes :))

Catch up time :)

2009-06-22T12:54:00.004-04:00

Okay it is serious catch up time! Before we get to Lydia's birthday, I must tell you what has been going on! Two weeks ago, while we were waiting for Nana and Papa Ralph, we took the kids to the museum and they had a blast...

On the Farm!

2009-06-06T22:12:00.007-04:00

Tonight we went to the Godzisz's farm to visit with them and our friends the Stegall's. It was a wonderful time of fellowship. The Stegall's have two girls and another one arriving in just 4 short weeks, the Godzisz's have two girls and a six month old little boy. So, our boys were the only boys....hence all the pink...though they didn't mind too much esp when it was on a jeep or helmet (for riding horses). The kids had a blast as you will see...

LOOK...we still exist!

2009-05-26T19:05:00.003-04:00

Well, between the end of the semester and Lydia with her never ending ear issues, there has not been much time left for blogging. BUT I am happy to report that Matt finished the semester with one B, one C, and one grade still pending...and well, I finished! That was the important thing for me :) I ended with a C which made me very happy! We both learned so much this semester and Praise God for the opportunity to learn at such a wonderful place!

As for the kiddos...

Joshua is doing very well. He just finished his Awana year and is very excited about the Cubby Bear he got for his vest. He learned MANY scriptures this year and it truly is amazing that our little man has so much of God's word tucked into his heart. His imagination is going wild and he loves his brother and sister VERY much. He helps us to understand Asher by translating when we can't understand.

Asher is precious! His nose is healing very well...when he will leave it alone. He ADORES his sister and will repeat and imitate anything his brother does or says. He enjoys a good challenge and is talking more than ever! It is amazing to think that we ever thought he may have speech issues. Praise God, he is fine :)

Lydia...poor Lydia! She is such a sweet child. SO much different from her brothers. (not to say that her brothers are mean...she is just different :)) She has been battling an ear infection for the past few months and will be at the ENT by the end of the week. She says momma and dada...she loves to wave bye~bye, she enjoys playing peek-a-boo and celebrates every victory by clapping! She is such a joy and happy baby. (even with though she has had a double ear infection for almost two months!)

I think that brings you all up to speed. We are praying that you are all doing well. You should leave us a comment or give us a call to let us know that you are reading this and want us to continue to keep you updated...that way we will have motivation to not take so long next time :)

Asher Fell...

2009-05-13T21:41:00.000-04:00

Need I say more? I think he is okay...he is asleep...so we will see!

Missing our friends...

2009-05-08T20:38:00.002-04:00

Hey guys! Most of you know that some of best friends ever, Nathan and Candace Roberts are now living their lives in Kenya! We are so excited about their willingness to go and serve our Lord even at such a great cost! Go over to their web site and see what is going on in their world. They have three very kissably cute babies and I know they would love for you to follow them regularly and take part in their prayers and praises. They are also doing this really cool give away...they are giving an African bowl right now...go over and enter to win! It is free and it would be a really cool fun thing to have :) Check them out!

WE LOVE YOU AND MISS YOU NATHAN AND CANDACE!

3 SWIMMERS!

2009-04-27T20:14:00.003-04:00

Yes! We have three little fish in our house. For the past couple of days we have had 90+ weather here, so we broke out the pool yesterday! The boys had a blast! Well, today, after dinner, I could not help but put Lydia in her little swimsuit and let her join in the fun. I honestly expected the worst. The water was FREEZING, I thought at most she would stay in maybe 1-2 min. MAX. BOY was I wrong! She LOVED it! I hope you enjoy these photos of my three sweet swimmers!

Joshua is 4!!!

2009-04-24T18:41:00.003-04:00

Okay so I am a little behind...it has been a crazy month here in the Chilson house. BUT Joshua did have an AWESOME birthday. And to prove he is our child, he opted to go camping instead of a birthday party!!! Here are just a few pictues of him with his gift from mom and dad..then a few on Joshua doing his favorite thing...CAMPING! He loves it!

One for fun

2009-04-12T22:39:00.001-04:00

We were playing with the kids tonight and ended up with this photo:

Easter with the Chilsons!

2009-04-12T16:33:00.002-04:00

These are just a few of my favorite photos from our Easter! Enjoy! And Happy Easter! Christ has Risen!

Birthday Party at the park

2009-04-10T21:27:00.003-04:00

Hey Guys...I took the super heros, I mean boys (and Lydia) to a birthday party today! Here are a few of the photos! Oh, thanks Granny for the capes! They were a hit! And the boys enjoyed wearing them!

Good Weekend!

2009-04-06T10:30:00.002-04:00

We had a wonderful weekend! A much needed weekend full of family time! We worked in the house and in the garden, the boys made pizzas for us for dinner and then daddy took us out to dinner Sunday night. We enjoyed our weekend. We should have some awesome pictures next weekend too! Stay tunded!

Our Garden

2009-03-29T14:34:00.008-04:00

So we started digging our garden yesterday! It is so much fun to play in the garden with the kids. We have had a blast. They did great "helping" us all day yesterday. It was so much fun! We had to come in to get ready for some evening plans when all plans changed and we took Lydia to the ER (see post below). While we were at the ER it rained LOTS more so we decided when we got home to release some energy and go dig some more because we still have lots to do, so we will do it as we get the chance! The first photo is before we ever started, the rest are last night, in the mud! (oh and Asher did not like the idea of getting muddy, he said it was "yucky")

You may want to pause the music on the side to hear the video, and when I watch it, I let it run all the way through before I try to actually watch it then I go back and watch it, it is less choppy that way! No one knew I was doing a video...they are all too cute!! Close to the end, Lydia gets a cracker...it is funny to me, you might think so too! :) It is also pretty funny to watch Joshua and his shoes...the kid is crazy!

Off to the ER!!

2009-03-29T14:22:00.002-04:00

So we took Lydia BACK to the hospital Saturday, because the knot on her head was getting BIGGER! The Pediatrician's office was concerned and wanted us to go to the ER to have her checked out AGAIN! We did and she is totally fine! We feel really good about this situation, since three doctors have now checked her over and said she is fine...the last two (the ones we saw in the ER) were VERY kind and left no stone unturned when talking to us and questioning us about her. I am certain that this will go away, ONE day...but until then, this is our sweet Lydia! (Oh the two NOT in the bath tub were taken at the ER when we were waiting for the doctor)

Kinda Funny

2009-03-24T20:57:00.003-04:00

Well, our day was NOT kinda funny, but it was funny when I came to post, all day I have thought about what to title this and all I could come up with was...Crazy Day...then I got here and saw that I THOUGHT last Tuesday was a crazy day...NO! This Tuesday has to be one of the craziest days we have had! (Aside from the day Candace had to call 911 for our Joshua!)

ANYWAY! We had a routine check up for Lydia today. Just a regular 9 month check up. I honestly went in expecting a pat on the back and a "see you at the 12 month." Which is why I was totally comfortable taking all three kids by myself so daddy could stay home and work on a HUGE presentation he was SUPPOSED to give this afternoon.

That is not exactly what we got. For starters, Lydia has two ear infections, a staph infection and a yeast infection. Then the Doctor was discussing with me that Lydia has an "abnormally large head." Needless to say I was a little concerned since the nurse had measured her head twice saying "somethings not right" then the Dr came in and immediately measured her head and started talking to me all about what we needed to do...Well after telling me lots of stuff, she finally said that she would see us back in three weeks to recheck the ears and see what was happening with Lydia's head growth. She left and was sitting outside the room working on our THREE prescriptions for Lydia when I remembered "the fall."

Last Thursday, Lydia fell from the changing table. It scared me VERY bad! We watched her for all the signs of head trauma and she showed NONE...we decided not to worry with it...kids are tough.

So upon remembering "the fall" I decided to go mention it to the doctor and just make sure that didn't have anything to do with her "abnormally large head." The doctor immediately told me no, but was rubbing all over Lydia's head while she asked me a few questions about this fall. Then she got quiet, said, "um..lets go back to the room"

I was beginning to get scared. She told me that she was a little concerned about this "goose egg" she is feeling on Lydia's noggin. She was concerned that it was a skull fracture and wanted us to have a Cat Scan done SOON. She let us go and told us we would get a call telling us when our Cat scan would be...

On the way home, we stopped at the drive through to drop off Lydia's prescriptions. We pulled into our drive around 10:15...I unloaded the boys and was getting Lydia out when Matt walked out to tell me that we had an 11:00 appointment at one of the main hospitals in Raleigh. There was no way we could make it, but we began the mad dash to get there.

We dropped the kids at the Williamsons (Leaving my sweet friend who is 8 months pregnant alone with 4 kids under 4 and only one was a girl!) filled up with gas and grabbed a quick bite (since Matt and I both had not eaten all day) and arrived at Wake Med having been told that Lydia would have to be sedated for this cat scan and that it could take a while.

Everything went very well there at the hospital. Everyone was very kind and helped us as quickly as they could. (well except the parking attendant but let's just not go there) We arrived at the hospital around Noon and were done by about 2:00. We were told that we would not get a call until tomorrow unless it was BAD.

So, we left and I got Matt to school, picked up the kids and prescriptions and came home for a little while to make sure we hadn't gotten "the call" and to unwind/do some chores while we waited for Daddy to finish school. "The call" came at 5:02, I was talking to a friend about this crazy day when "Growing Child Pediatrics" showed up on my caller ID. Knowing that I would NOT get a call unless it was bad, I immediately hung up with my friend and answered.

Good news! Lydia's scan turned out fine, well of course except for the HUGE goose egg. (which Matt and I are wondering how in the world we missed it, the hair surely has hidden it) The only other thing they noticed was that she also has a sinus infection! REALLY? If you count BOTH ear infections, that is 5 infections in that one sweet little body.

All that to say, we are glad to be at the end of this day. We are praising God that the only thing wrong with our sweet little baby is 5 infections...I wish she didn't have them, but honestly (obviously, since I had no idea before, the "well-check" today) she is doing great! She is a trooper and we are TRULY praising God that He provided for us in so many ways today...Daddy being off, Brenden being available to keep our boys, GREAT doctors/nurses, the routine "Well Baby Check-Up" and finally just the technology to do take these precautions.

I think I also learned today to be thankful for everyday, to be careful about who (and what) I complain to and about, and to thank God for His provisions for my family!

Crazy Day!

2009-03-17T23:27:00.001-04:00

Well this was just a crazy day! There are so many "small stories" I could share about what all went into the makings of this crazy day, but lets just share a few. As you might notice, Joshua got a little um...creative with the safety sicssors and gave Lydia a haircut, because he thought I would like it. (thankfully she has enough hair that I can't even tell where he cut!) The boys fought over who would get to wear the Cookie Monster socks, yes, the prefer Cookie Monster to Elmo...so I made the each wear one of each! And well here is a video of dinner, just for your enjoyment :)

A SUNNY DAY!

2009-03-15T15:15:00.004-04:00

Okay well, as you will see by the dates of the photos, these were taken exactly one week after the last snow we got. It was a beautiful day! The kids were outside almost ALL day. They enjoyed the weather and each other very much that day! The only sad part is I took these photos for you and I planned to post them that night...all of the sudden I now realize that has been a week! GEEZ...that means it has been two weeks since I last posted. Can you find it in your heart to forgive me? This week is mid-term week for us...PLUS I have a big denist apt. Tues...YUCK! Anyway, I therefor am not makeing any grand promises! I took the kids to a Star Wars themed birthday party yesterday (Sat) and I forgot my camera, but lots of friends had theirs...I hope to share some of those photos with you soon...But for now enjoy! We love you all and miss you!

OH! And just for the record, it is cold and wet, just one week later...VERY COLD AND WET!

SNOW DAY!

2009-03-02T09:43:00.002-05:00

Well, it happened! We got snow two "big" snows this year! This time we only got about 2 inches, but it is beautiful. It was not enough to keep daddy home from work, but thankfully he is scheduled to get off at noon anyway! We can't wait for daddy to come home and play with us, he will get out the sled. AND he is off tomorrow! We are excited that we were able to get snow again! It is really cold, so we didn't stay out long this morning...but here is what few little photos I got...ENJOY!

Eden's Party

2009-02-21T22:13:00.003-05:00

Sorry it has been so long since we last posted anything...life is crazy busy here! I haven't even really taken that many photos since we posted last TWO weeks ago. SORRY!

So today we went to Eden Jones' birthday party. She and Asher are very close in age and as you will see she sorta took a likin' to Asher. Though Asher wasn't so excited, I am afraid he thought she was after his ice cream!

I didn't get too many of Joshua...he was just doing his own thing, which he is doing more and more these days. It is awesome to see him starting to really develop some independence.

Lydia is now doing this tongue thing...I think it will speak for itself, she is too funny these days, she LOVES having other people around her, esp her brothers!

Enjoy the photos, I will try to post again, maybe next time it won't take TWO WEEKS!

Father-Son Bake off

2009-02-07T20:29:00.007-05:00

Sorry it has taken so long for us to post...there hasn't been anything really "photo worthy" to blog about. Mommy and Daddy are both in school full swing, which has proven to be a little crazier than we expected. However, it is awesome to see how we are growing as a family when we HAVE to depend on each other.

Well, I am sure you have figured out by now, my boys were in a bake off this weekend. They baked a cake Friday night and then had 30 min at church to decorate their creation. I must say my men did an AWESOME job! I was super impressed at how much patience Matt showed with the boys.

I hope you enjoy the photos. You will see a little bit of everything! Enjoy!

Lydia

2009-01-28T07:52:00.002-05:00

I snapped this of her the other day...she just makes me smile. She was "playing" with the boys' puzzles. She had just gotten out of the bath and to me a clean baby is a cute baby!

The last leg

2009-01-24T15:41:00.002-05:00

So after all the wonderful time with family and friends, we ended our trip with a 6 hour drive through the snow! (well it took more than 6 hours, but it snowed for 6 of the hours!) The whole way I was somewhat sad that we would not get to play in the snow, and even had Matt take pictures of the kids in the snow at a rest stop...little did I know what was in store for us the next morning :)

(I think we are now up to date!)

The Stegalls

2009-01-24T15:27:00.003-05:00

From Georgia we went to Tennessee. We again were greeted by a gracious and loving family willing to open their new home to us...and again, it is BEAUTIFUL! We had an awesome time of fellowship with the Stegalls and the kids seemed to have a blast. As I am looking at the photos, I am sad that we didn't get any of Joe and Sara to share with you all...I guess we will have to be happy with the kids, after all they are the ones who seem to change the most!

Good Ole Friends

2009-01-24T15:01:00.005-05:00

Well, our first stop once we left Alabama was Georgia! We have some great friends there. The Copelands graciously opened their new home to us (it was our first time to see it, and it is BEAUTIFUL!) and we had a blast with them and their sweet family. Christina with all of her AMAZING TALENT made Asher a birthday cake. The boys had a slumber party (well Asher wasn't quite ready and decided to sleep in the room with Mom and Dad) and played video games...I think it made their dads proud :)

Back to the trip

2009-01-24T15:00:00.000-05:00

Okay well I sorta skipped some things when we woke up and saw that we had been blanketed with snow. Something about that white powdery substance made me lose focus... :) So anyway, here are the last photos from our time in Alabama!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ASHER

2009-01-22T07:10:00.004-05:00

Well, the day has come...Asher is now 2 years old. I am shocked. Even strong-willed little boys make it through the first two years. :) Seriously, though, Asher is such a joy to our family. We spent the day yesterday thankful for him and his sweet personality. We praise God for him! To celebrate his birthday we played in the snow some more and had a blast! Daddy even surprised us by having the day off. It was a wonderful day full of fun!

SNOW! 5 inches

2009-01-20T12:42:00.003-05:00

YUP! You got it, well actually WE got it! LOTS AND LOTS OF SNOW! I have more pictures from our time with friends and a few family that I still want to post, but I really wanted to show you all this BEAUTIFUL snow!!

Fun at Grandma and Grandpa's farm

2009-01-14T23:26:00.006-05:00

Hey everyone,

We had a great time today at the Chilson's farm today with my grandparents. The boys were definitely in little boy heaven with tractors, deer, horses, dogs, mud, and a motorcycle. I don't think they quite knew what to do with themselves. The experience even exhausted Jess who is crawling into bed as I type. Thankfully, Asher is getting more accustomed to animals and was feeding the deer and horses and was also trying to track down the cats and dogs to pet them. Of course here is a smattering of photos from the day. Enjoy!

Lots of Fun in the Sun

2009-01-13T23:28:00.007-05:00

Another fun day in Alabama!

Another Busy Day

2009-01-12T23:30:00.007-05:00

Well, I think it would be best to upload these as we get enough. I like keeping you in the know :) We are having a great time here in Alabama and as you will see in the photos, Berkley and our kids have been having a blast! It is such a blessing to see my kids playing with their cousin.

You will also see Matt's Mom, his sister and her boyfriend. We had a great time at dinner with them tonight. (As I think the pictures will prove!)

(By the way, these are a little scrambled...Sorry!) Oh, and the one of Lydia in the red chair, that is my Grandmother Lundy, my Dad's mom...she was trying to keep Lydia from seeing me, so that I could get our stuff ready for the day! Lydia is struggling with screaming anytime she can't see Momma (I am hoping this is due to the trip and all the new people and we will leave this problem in Alabama!)...sigh

Happy 60th Grandpa Ralph

2009-01-10T23:10:00.006-05:00

Well, tonight we celebrated Grandpa Ralph's birthday like this :)

Lydia is 6 months

2009-01-06T21:09:00.014-05:00

Where, O Where, have the Chilson's been? We wish we had an answer. Things have been seriously busy, though we hardly have done anything...it just doesn't seem right.

We took Lydia's 6 month photos tonight and had a blast! She is precious to us. We just adore her! We took a ton of photos and are having a very tough time deciding which one is our favorite! We are going to show you just a small preview of some...some were just precious of her and we didn't care about the make shift studio showing up :)

We also wanted to show you all Asher's bum eye. He fell off a indoor slide at Church Sunday morning (it looks a little worse than that actually now, b/c he fell on it again Monday!). He has really started talking a lot in the last few weeks. We are amazed at all that he knows. We always said, "one day this child will just start talking" and has he ever!

Also, Joshua has been so busy lately in his "office" that he hardly has time for anything else! He is learning so much and we are just really enjoying talking to him and hearing what he is thinking about!

We will be heading to Alabama Friday morning...so we may be gone from here for a little while. But we plan to have LOTS of photos to share with all of you! We miss you!

MERRY CHRISTMAS

2008-12-25T10:52:00.002-05:00

We have had a wonderful morning just enjoying our little family! Okay, well the kids weren't JUST enjoying their family, while they were thrilled to have daddy home this morning (Joshua actually woke up during the middle of the night crying afraid that daddy was going to work), they have also really enjoyed the new toys they found when they woke up!

What did Christmas eve look in the Chilson home?

2008-12-25T10:31:00.003-05:00

As you can tell, it was not very "Christmasy" in weather, but we had a great time playing in the yard. Who says it must be cold a Christmas? Certainly not us. It was fun to run and play and NOT be all bundled up and freezing cold! Daddy even flew a kite with the boys just before we headed out for the Christmas eve service at our church...wish I had gotten a photo of that :)

Why Good Things Happen to Bad People

2008-12-20T11:22:00.008-05:00

Well, we have had a wonderful time visiting with family for the past month at our house. That has now come to an end as we said goodbye to Nana and Papa Ralph on Thursday morning. (We were having such a good time with them that we forgot to take any photos :( )

Thursday was a bitter-sweet day for our little family. It was a little nice to start our own routine again and get back into the swing of things. However, it was also back to the real world. Boy, did that hit hard Thursday night when we realized that Friday was pay day. That meant rent was due. With that in mind it was time to balance the check book. GULP. Well, when I balanced it I was a little less than impressed...so I thought it would look better if I went ahead and wrote down the paycheck, tithe, and rent. Sigh. Things did not look good.

Well, it was time to talk. I updated Matt on our status and informed him that I thought it was time to cancel our trip to Alabama. I knew that it would be a hard choice to make, but the only one I saw that we could make. "Let's face it," I told him, "we don't have money for food, much less gas for a trip to Alabama!" (Now, before you all start thinking that we are starving, let me say here that we have money for the very basics and we have PLENTY of food here at home, we are just having to get some MAJOR maintenance done on the car before we can go to Alabama).

Matt and I talked about lots of different things and he felt sure that we needed to make this trip. He kept saying "the Lord will provide" and for me not to worry. I knew (and Matt did too) that our tax return would probably be how God would provide and that we just needed to "rob Peter to pay Paul" until that time. I was a little concerned, but knowing that Matt is the head of our house, I decided it was once again time to trust my husband and ultimately the Lord. All of that was Thursday night.

Friday was a normal day here in the Chilson home. Matt went to work and the kids and I were here at home, just enjoying the day and time together.

When Matt got home from work, he checked the mail. We got the sort of things you would expect this time of year: a few sale papers and a couple of Christmas cards. (Which honestly are VERY exciting to me, I just love Christmas cards!) Well, there were two in our mailbox on Friday. One was from some of our extended family and the other was a bit puzzling. Matt and I looked at the return address and could not figure out who it was. After opening it and reading the card, names and all, we could not really place who these people were, and why they chose to send us a Christmas card. BUT the words written inside that Christmas card will not leave our hearts for a very long time-

"My wife and I felt led to send you some gas money for your trip home to Alabama after Christmas. I hope you and your family are enjoying your 'break' from school. May God continue to bless you and your family for His service. We wish you all a very Merry Christmas."

Teary eyed, lump in throat, joyful, puzzled, confused, baffled, yeah, all that. We couldn't even begin to process what, how, who, or why. US? These people obviously know a little bit about us. But who are they? Why did they choose to bless us? And the very day after we had decided to trust God with the plans for our trip home. It would be foolish for me to even begin to try to fully explain all that Matt and I thought and felt at that moment.

We are not deserving of this at all. In light of who God is and His standard for us, we as people deserve nothing more than hell itself. That is what WE are worthy of. So why did this family choose to share with us? Again I say we are just people, honestly bad people. The Bible tells us that our best deeds are like filthy rags to Holy God. So why? Why would someone who hardly knows us choose to bless us in this way?

Honestly, I do not know. What I do know is this. God OBVIOUSLY wanted to show us His power and mercy. He also wanted to use this precious family for His glory. So, that is where were are. We are glorifying God and praising Him for blessing us, His unworthy servants.

Now, we do know who this family is who has chosen to bless us. We have figured out that Matt has been in a couple of classes with the husband of this family. But Matt does not know him to the point of recognizing his name (well, until now :)), he has spoken with him from time to time, but they are really nothing more than classmates, striving to learn more together.

We are forced again to realize that if it were not for that sweet little baby born on Christmas day, there would be no way that we could have any hope. There would be no blood to cover all the filthy rags of our wickedness. There honestly really are no "good people,"--what do you really think you could do "good" to deserve what Christ has done on the cross on our behalf? Let's face it. IF Jesus had not been born, then we would not have a Savior. A Savior who would MAKE us "good people," for apart from Him NOTHING is good. NOTHING. However, the baby who was born of a virgin in a cold, stiff manger, and lived a perfect life and died a horrific, gruesome death on a cross--Jesus gives His goodness to us if we accept Him as Lord of our lives and allow Him to reign and give Him control.

I pray that these thoughts will help you realize there is more involved this Christmas than just presents, food, and family. Jesus Christ came so that we may have life and live it abundantly. It is only because of Him that good things happen to bad people.

Fun Photos

2008-12-14T00:54:00.001-05:00

Lots of First...

2008-12-08T13:28:00.004-05:00

Gracious. Where does time go? Well, since we last posted there has been LOTS of firsts for for our family. Lydia is cutting her first tooth, she has had her first pig tails, and she tried her first rice cereal. As a family we have put up our first artificial tree, which we love! You know, you don't have to water a fake tree, and you don't have to vacuum up all those needles either! AND Matt is in the middle of his first finals of "Big Boy" school. (Please pray for him, he will be taking his last final tomorrow~Tuesday, afternoon and it is a BIG one!)

In the photos, if they need explaining at all, you will find our tree, Matt studying, the kids and I watching a movie while Daddy studies. You will also find Lydia's first set of pig tails, and her first taste of rice cereal. Hope you enjoy!

Thanksgiving

2008-12-01T14:19:00.006-05:00

These pictures show what a WONDERFUL weekend we had! Thank you so much for visiting us, Zac, Jodi, Grandaddy and Berkley! We really enjoyed our visit and can't wait to see you in January along with the rest of the family!

We hope you all had a great weekend. YAY! Christmas is here!!!

What does a 104 fever look like?

2008-11-22T13:08:00.003-05:00

Well, what a week. It has snowed TWICE! Nothing to stick or cause any delays or anything like that Which has been awesome. We have loved it and are praying that we get a HUGE snow this year. We really want to play in it! Asher has had a fever of 104 for the week...it just won't go away. (You will find him curled up in his quilt that MawMaw sent him this week. She made it! Cool, huh, thanks MawMaw, clearly it was just in time) The doctors are not too concerned and have given us a few things to do. And, well what do you expect Joshua to do when his brother is sick...he couldn't just be calm, it is not in his nature!

Making Pizza

2008-11-19T13:24:00.003-05:00

Sorry it has taken SO long for me to post pictures. We haven't really taken that many lately! But just you wait! Lydia will be meeting her cousin Berkley, Aunt Jodi and Uncle Zac on Thanksgiving, and we are sure that will be fun! THEN in December, she will be meeting her Nana and Granpa Ralph! We can't wait to show you all the fun photos. (BUT in the mean time mommy MAY be busy getting the house and food prep done for all the visitors!)

These photos speak for themselves~ And then of course I had to add Lydia and her sweet smile!

We NEED a MiniVan!

2008-11-16T22:53:00.004-05:00

We promise to put up some pictures of the kids soon, but until then...we told you that we are open to a minivan, and we think it would be really fun to have one...

Minivan Reverse Wheelie @ Yahoo! Video

(By the way, Brenden, I tried this in the last mini van that I drove but it didn't really work so well ;))

Just for Fun

2008-11-08T22:24:00.004-05:00

As you might can tell we have been having LOTS of fun around here!

A Few Fun Photos

2008-11-07T00:57:00.002-05:00

Here are just some random shots of our week. We love you all!

The Results

2008-11-05T13:56:00.006-05:00

I know that many of you are wondering what and how we feel about the results of the election last night. I think the best word to describe our thoughts on the election is content. We, our family went to the polls yesterday and voted. Therefore, our voice was heard. Many of you who know me know that I like to say, "I would have blah, blah, blah, but they didn't ask me." Today, someone listened when we voiced who we thought would be best for the job. The duty and privilege to vote is ours. The results are in the hands of the Maker of Heaven and Earth. Because He is in control, we are content.

2008-11-04T00:04:00.002-05:00

I know many of you have made up your mind and know what and who you are voting for and/or against today, however, I want to get personal with you for a moment. Here is one of my best friends blog CLICK HERE This is real. Lives are at stake and we have to take a stand.

VOTE.

What a week

2008-11-01T21:41:00.002-04:00

As you will see below, it has been a week in the Chilson house. We are thankful and praising God that He knows what is best for our family. I want to start by saying that we have not blogged like we would have liked this week due to keyboard issues...however, that has led to us having a nice new keyboard (that I like) which means I will most likely be catching up on some posting this week. (also, it will likely be on my "mommy blog" as Matt calls it, that is where I talk about our life here, not as many photos!)

We finished the week off today with a trip to Urgent Care to find that Joshua does indeed have pink eye...fun! So Mommy, Asher and Lydia will go to church tomorrow allowing Daddy and Joshua to stay home and rest.

For now, this will be enough. Enjoy the post below and I am sure you will hear from me again SOON...for now I am off to my other blog.

No More Wisdom for Daddy

2008-11-01T21:29:00.005-04:00

The photos here are the afternoon after Matt got his wisdom yanked out of his head (wisdom teeth removal). The photo of the boys loving on their daddy after surgery is TOO SWEET! If I do say so myself. We had a VERY SWEET and generous friend take the boys for the day. She took them to Little Gym and wore them out. She was kind enough to not let them nap so they came home very tired. She was also obviously thoughtful enough to not feed them, because they ate a GREAT dinner! ;) It was such a blessing to let them love on daddy during a movie, eat a good dinner and then go to bed early. Daddy was for sure thankful for their semi-calmness! THANK YOU BRENDEN! WE LOVE YOU!

Bible Hero Night

2008-11-01T21:15:00.003-04:00

Okay, well it was Bible hero night at Awana Wed. night. Can you guess who was who? Well, Joshua was Noah, Asher was Moses and Lydia was well, LYDIA! (that is why she was in purple, after all, she is a successful business woman!) Enjoy the photos.

Fun Night Out

2008-10-25T22:44:00.003-04:00

Well, tonight was something of a surprise night out! Since the kids and I are at home ALL the time now (with only one vehicle, we don't really go anywhere), we had decided to go to a Harvest Fest tonight. It got rained out and so we went to the mall and had a little fun (You can read about the deals mommy scored here). Here are a few photos from tonight:

Something to think about

2008-10-23T20:50:00.002-04:00

I saw this on another blog, and I really needed to share it with you. Guys (and Gals!), I know this is a lot to read, however, Dr Daniel Akin is the president of our seminary and he emailed this to his students. I think in light of election day we should be as informed as possible. This is really heart-breaking to me. I hope you find this informative.

“Why Faithful Evangelicals Cannot Vote for Barack Obama”

By: Daniel L. Akin

“It is incumbent upon every believer, when they are active in the American political process, to vote their conscience and to further let their conscience be guided by the Word of God. Nowhere is this more important than in the area of abortion, an issue on which God’s Word is abundantly clear. In light of recent secular media reports and pollster predictions that many evangelicals may be supporting Democratic nominee Barack Obama for president, I found the following article by Professor Robert P. George of Princeton University to be compelling. Please read it as you become more informed about the candidates and how you can vote on election day in such a way that glorifies Jesus.”

Obama’s Abortion Extremism

Robert P. George

Barack Obama is the most extreme pro-abortion candidate ever to seek the office of President of the United States. He is the most extreme pro-abortion member of the United States Senate. Indeed, he is the most extreme pro-abortion legislator ever to serve in either house of the United States Congress.

Yet there are Catholics and Evangelicals—even self-identified pro-life Catholics and Evangelicals—who aggressively promote Obama’s candidacy and even declare him the preferred candidate from the pro-life point of view.

What is going on here?

I have examined the arguments advanced by Obama’s self-identified pro-life supporters, and they are spectacularly weak. It is nearly unfathomable to me that those advancing them can honestly believe what they are saying. But before proving my claims about Obama’s abortion extremism, let me explain why I have described Obama as “pro-abortion” rather than “pro-choice.”

According to the standard argument for the distinction between these labels, nobody is pro-abortion. Everybody would prefer a world without abortions. After all, what woman would deliberately get pregnant just to have an abortion? But given the world as it is, sometimes women find themselves with unplanned pregnancies at times in their lives when having a baby would present significant problems for them. So even if abortion is not medically required, it should be permitted, made as widely available as possible and, when necessary, paid for with taxpayers’ money.

The defect in this argument can easily be brought into focus if we shift to the moral question that vexed an earlier generation of Americans: slavery. Many people at the time of the American founding would have preferred a world without slavery but nonetheless opposed abolition. Such people—Thomas Jefferson was one—reasoned that, given the world as it was, with slavery woven into the fabric of society just as it had often been throughout history, the economic consequences of abolition for society as a whole and for owners of plantations and other businesses that relied on slave labor would be dire. Many people who argued in this way were not monsters but honest and sincere, albeit profoundly mistaken. Some (though not Jefferson) showed their personal opposition to slavery by declining to own slaves themselves or freeing slaves whom they had purchased or inherited. They certainly didn’t think anyone should be forced to own slaves. Still, they maintained that slavery should remain a legally permitted option and be given constitutional protection.

Would we describe such people, not as pro-slavery, but as “pro-choice”? Of course we would not. It wouldn’t matter to us that they were “personally opposed” to slavery, or that they wished that slavery were “unnecessary,” or that they wouldn’t dream of forcing anyone to own slaves. We would hoot at the faux sophistication of a placard that said “Against slavery? Don’t own one.” We would observe that the fundamental divide is between people who believe that law and public power should permit slavery, and those who think that owning slaves is an unjust choice that should be prohibited.

Just for the sake of argument, though, let us assume that there could be a morally meaningful distinction between being “pro-abortion” and being “pro-choice.” Who would qualify for the latter description? Barack Obama certainly would not. For, unlike his running mate Joe Biden, Obama does not think that abortion is a purely private choice that public authority should refrain from getting involved in. Now, Senator Biden is hardly pro-life. He believes that the killing of the unborn should be legally permitted and relatively unencumbered. But unlike Obama, at least Biden would not use taxpayer dollars to fund abortion, thereby leaving Americans free to choose not to implicate themselves in it. If we stretch things to create a meaningful category called “pro-choice,” then Biden might be a plausible candidate for the label; at least he respects your choice or mine not to facilitate deliberate feticide.

The same cannot be said for Barack Obama. For starters, he has promised to seek repeal of the Hyde Amendment, which has for many years protected pro-life citizens from having to pay for abortions that are not necessary to save the life of the mother and are not the result of rape or incest. The abortion industry laments that this longstanding federal law, according to the pro-abortion group NARAL, “forces about half the women who would otherwise have abortions to carry unintended pregnancies to term and bear children against their wishes instead.” In other words, a whole lot of people who are alive today would have been exterminated in utero were it not for the Hyde Amendment. Obama has promised to reverse the situation so that abortions that the industry complains are not happening (because the federal government is not subsidizing them) would happen. That is why people who profit from abortion love Obama even more than they do his running mate.

But this barely scratches the surface of Obama’s extremism. He has promised that “the first thing I’d do as President is sign the Freedom of Choice Act” (known as FOCA). This proposed legislation would create a federally guaranteed “fundamental right” to abortion through all nine months of pregnancy, including, as Cardinal Justin Rigali of Philadelphia has noted in a statement condemning the proposed Act, “a right to abort a fully developed child in the final weeks for undefined ‘health’ reasons.” In essence, FOCA would abolish virtually every existing state and federal limitation on abortion, including parental consent and notification laws for minors and conscience protections for pro-life citizens working in the health-care industry—protections against being forced to participate in the practice of abortion or else lose their jobs. The pro-abortion National Organization for Women has proclaimed with approval that FOCA would “sweep away hundreds of anti-abortion laws [and] policies.”

It gets worse. Obama, unlike even many “pro-choice” legislators, opposed the ban on partial-birth abortions and condemned the Supreme Court decision that upheld legislation banning this heinous practice. He has referred to a baby conceived inadvertently by a young woman as a “punishment” that she should not endure. He has stated that women’s equality requires access to abortion on demand. Appallingly, he wishes to strip federal funding from pro-life crisis pregnancy centers that provide alternatives to abortion for pregnant women in need. There is certainly nothing “pro-choice” about that.

But it gets even worse. When pro-life members of Obama’s own party in Congress proposed the so-called “95-10” legislation to strengthen the social safety net for poor women and, they hoped, reduce the number of abortions by 95% in ten years, Obama refused to support it. This legislation would not have made a single abortion illegal. It simply sought to make it easier for pregnant women to make the choice not to abort their babies. Here was a concrete test of whether Obama was “pro-choice” rather than pro-abortion. He flunked. Then he flunked again by opposing the inclusion of unborn children in the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (S-Chip)—which would have helped to save unborn babies without making abortion illegal. Many implacably “pro-choice” members of Congress like Edward Kennedy supported it. But Barack Obama stood resolutely with the most stalwart abortion advocates in opposing it.

It gets worse yet. In an act of breathtaking injustice which the Obama campaign lied about until critics produced documentary proof of what he had done, as an Illinois state senator Obama opposed legislation to protect children who are born alive, either as a result of an abortionist’s unsuccessful effort to kill them in the womb, or by the deliberate delivery of the baby prior to viability. This legislation would not have banned any abortions. Indeed, it included a specific provision ensuring that it did not affect abortion laws. (This is what Obama and his campaign lied about until they were caught.) The federal version of the bill passed unanimously in the United States Senate, winning the support of such ardent advocates of legal abortion as John Kerry and Barbara Boxer. But Barack Obama opposed it and worked to defeat it. For him, a child marked for abortion gets no protection—even ordinary medical or comfort care—even if she is born alive and entirely separated from her mother. So Obama has favored protecting what is literally a form of infanticide.

You may be thinking, It can’t get worse than that. But it does.

For several years, Americans have been debating the use for biomedical research of embryos produced by in vitro fertilization (originally for reproductive purposes) but now left in a frozen condition in cryopreservation units. President Bush has restricted the use of federal funds for stem-cell research of the type that makes use of these embryos and destroys them in the process. I support the President’s restriction, but some legislators with excellent pro-life records, including John McCain, argue that the use of federal money should be permitted where the embryos are going to be discarded or die anyway as the result of the parents’ decision. Senator Obama, too, wants to lift the restriction.

But Obama would not stop there. He has co-sponsored a bill—strongly opposed by McCain—that would authorize the large-scale industrial production of human embryos for use in biomedical research in which they would be killed. In fact, the bill Obama co-sponsored would require the killing of human beings in the embryonic stage that were produced by cloning. It would make it a federal crime for a woman to save an embryo by agreeing to have the tiny developing human being implanted in her womb so that he or she could be brought to term. This “clone and kill” bill would, if enacted, bring something to America that has heretofore existed only in China—the equivalent of legally mandated abortion. In an audacious act of deceit, Obama and his co-sponsors misleadingly call this an anti-cloning bill. But it is nothing of the kind. What it bans is not cloning, but allowing the embryonic children produced by cloning to survive.

Can it get still worse? Yes.

Decent people of every persuasion hold out the increasingly realistic hope of resolving the moral issue surrounding embryonic stem-cell research by developing methods to produce the exact equivalent of embryonic stem cells without using (or producing) embryos. But when a bill was introduced in the United States Senate to put a modest amount of federal money into research to develop these methods, Barack Obama was one of the few senators who opposed it. From any rational vantage point, this is unconscionable. Why would someone not wish to find a method of producing the pluripotent cells scientists want that all Americans could enthusiastically endorse? Why create and kill human embryos when there are alternatives that do not require the taking of nascent human lives? It is as if Obama is opposed to stem-cell research unless it involves killing human embryos.

This ultimate manifestation of Obama’s extremism brings us back to the puzzle of his pro-life Catholic and Evangelical apologists.

They typically do not deny the facts I have reported. They could not; each one is a matter of public record. But despite Obama’s injustices against the most vulnerable human beings, and despite the extraordinary support he receives from the industry that profits from killing the unborn (which should be a good indicator of where he stands), some Obama supporters insist that he is the better candidate from the pro-life point of view.

They say that his economic and social policies would so diminish the demand for abortion that the overall number would actually go down—despite the federal subsidizing of abortion and the elimination of hundreds of pro-life laws. The way to save lots of unborn babies, they say, is to vote for the pro-abortion—oops! “pro-choice”—candidate. They tell us not to worry that Obama opposes the Hyde Amendment, the Mexico City Policy (against funding abortion abroad), parental consent and notification laws, conscience protections, and the funding of alternatives to embryo-destructive research. They ask us to look past his support for Roe v. Wade, the Freedom of Choice Act, partial-birth abortion, and human cloning and embryo-killing. An Obama presidency, they insist, means less killing of the unborn.

This is delusional.

We know that the federal and state pro-life laws and policies that Obama has promised to sweep away (and that John McCain would protect) save thousands of lives every year. The rigorous studies conducted by Professor Michael New and other social scientists have removed any doubt. In some cases, as we have seen, even the abortion lobby confirms the truth of what these scholars have determined. Nor can we ignore the effect of the message that Obama and his policies would send: that abortion is a legitimate solution to the problem of unwanted pregnancies (so clearly legitimate that taxpayers should be forced to pay for it).

But for a moment let’s suppose, against all the evidence, that Obama’s proposals would reduce the number of abortions, even while subsidizing the killing with taxpayer dollars. Even so, many more unborn human beings would likely be killed under Obama than under McCain. A Congress controlled by strong Democratic majorities under Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi would enact the bill authorizing the mass industrial production of human embryos by cloning for research in which they are killed. As president, Obama would sign it. The number of tiny humans created and killed under this legislation (assuming that an efficient human cloning technique is soon perfected) could dwarf the number of lives saved as a result of the reduced demand for abortion—even if we take a delusionally optimistic view of what that number would be.

Barack Obama and John McCain differ on many important issues about which reasonable people of goodwill, including pro-life Americans of every faith, disagree: how best to fight international terrorism, how to restore economic growth and prosperity, how to distribute the tax burden and reduce poverty, etc.

But on abortion and the industrial creation of embryos for destructive research, there is a profound difference of moral principle, not just prudence. These questions reveal the character and judgment of each man. Barack Obama is deeply committed to the belief that members of an entire class of human beings have no rights that others must respect. Across the spectrum of pro-life concerns for the unborn, he would deny these tiny members of the human family the basic protection of the laws. Over the next four to eight years, as many as three U.S. Supreme Court justices are likely to retire. Obama enthusiastically supports Roe v. Wade and would appoint judges who would protect that morally and constitutionally disastrous decision and even expand its scope. Indeed, in an interview in Glamour magazine, he promised to apply a litmus test for Supreme Court nominations: jurists who do not support Roe will not be considered for appointment by Obama. John McCain, by contrast, opposes Roe and would appoint judges likely to overturn it. This would not make abortion illegal, but it would return the issue to the forums of democratic deliberation, where pro-life Americans could engage in a fair debate to persuade fellow citizens that killing the unborn is no way to address the problems of pregnant women in need.

What kind of America do we want our beloved nation to be? Barack Obama’s America is one in which being human just isn’t enough to warrant care and protection. It is an America where the unborn may legitimately be killed without legal restriction, even by the grisly practice of partial-birth abortion. It is an America where a baby who survives abortion is not even entitled to comfort care as she dies on a stainless steel table or in a soiled linen bin. It is a nation in which some members of the human family are regarded as inferior and others superior in fundamental dignity and rights. In Obama’s America, public policy would make a mockery of the great constitutional principle of the equal protection of the laws. In perhaps the most telling comment made by any candidate in either party in this election year, Senator Obama, when asked by Rick Warren when a baby gets human rights, replied: “that question is above my pay grade.” It was a profoundly disingenuous answer: For even at a state senator’s pay grade, Obama presumed to answer that question with blind certainty. His unspoken answer then, as now, is chilling: human beings have no rights until infancy—and if they are unwanted survivors of attempted abortions, not even then.

In the end, the efforts of Obama’s apologists to depict their man as the true pro-life candidate that Catholics and Evangelicals may and even should vote for, doesn’t even amount to a nice try. Voting for the most extreme pro-abortion political candidate in American history is not the way to save unborn babies.

Robert P. George is McCormick Professor of Jurisprudence and Director of the James Madison Program in American Ideals and Institutions at Princeton University. He serves on the President’s Council on Bioethics and on UNESCO’s World Commission on the Ethics of Scientific Knowledge and Technology (COMEST). George is a Senior Fellow of the Witherspoon Institute of Princeton, New Jersey.

Finding the right Pumpkin

2008-10-19T21:09:00.003-04:00

Hey guys! Took the boys to get pumpkins this weekend. It was GREAT! My sweet boys picked out small pumpkins so we actually got three, two small ones that we put on the porch and a larger one to cook! They loved it! Enjoy the photos! Thanks Nana!

!

African Princess

2008-10-12T15:00:00.001-04:00

Well, here is our little African princess! Can you guess where she got this outfit?? Isn't she sweet!

My Super Heroes!

2008-10-12T14:46:00.007-04:00

Be sure to watch both of these, sometimes it is dangerous to be a superhero! Oh and ignore the piles of laundry, they were all clean, just needed to be put away, but as you can see we were having too much fun for that! (Oh and you may want to pause the music on the left side, just hit the pause button!)

oops

2008-10-07T19:09:00.002-04:00

A sweet friend alerted me to the fact that it has been a while since you all saw some good photos of our clan...so here they are! A wonderful night in the yard!

First Baths

2008-09-27T20:40:00.003-04:00

Just thought this would be fun to look at.

Ruth is here!

2008-09-25T15:14:00.005-04:00

For those of you who know the Roberts, Ruth Amelia is here! We are so excited that she is here and very happy that everything went well with her arrival! We praise God with them for the miracle of life! While we are sad that we can not hold that sweet little girl, we are so thankful to know that God is holding them in His hands! We are also very thankful for their service to the Lord there in Kenya and their obedience to Him to leave it all and follow Him! Feel free to check them out...americanafricans.blogspot.com

Here are just a few sweet pictures of our family, since that is why many of you are here :)

Alphabet, Cookies, Hair & A Little Sick

2008-09-21T21:01:00.010-04:00

Hey Guys! Time for my weekly post! I MUST say it has been a week. Over all it was a really good week. Daddy had the weekend off, so that made things REALLY good. Asher has had a sinus and ear infection, which has been sad but, in true Asher form, it has not gotten him down in the least! Joshua is doing awesome. He has begun to write his alphabet and can write the whole alphabet! We are SO proud of him. He is really doing well. I even caught him "homeschooling" his friend the other day. Lydia is still doing great, growing by leaps and bounds. I think her hair is growing just as much as her body. Everywhere we go, we are stopped by people looking at her, commenting on her hair. It rocks! Mostly people say things like "I know women who pay lots of money to have their hair look like that." Well, tonight at church, a friend's mom, who was visiting actually said "I pay money to get my hair to do that!" I though I would die laughing...Matt and I are trying HARD to figure out how to keep her hair from doing that! Well, enjoy the video of the boys making cookies...and of course there are a few sweet photos as well. The ones of the boys outside were taken at a friend's house Sat night during our Sunday School Social. I am so glad we started this blogging thing, we are so much better at taking photos now that we have a good reason to! Thanks for keeping up with us.

Finally another post!

2008-09-14T20:24:00.004-04:00

Hey guys...looks like once a week may be the best I can do! It has been really crazy busy around here. I have been hitting the sales HARD lately and trying hard to stay within budget. I am thinking about doing another blog, just for sales, to show you what I got where. Would anyone be interested in seeing it? I might just do it for the fun of it. I really am enjoying these sales!

Anyway, about the kids...they are doing okay. They have all been a little sick this week. But I am thinking we are on the up and up! It has been sorta nice though, because the kids are snuggling more and much calmer when they are sick! But, I do miss my rowdy boys!

The pictures are just some of the fun we have had lately. YES, Lydia is sucking her thumb. NO, she is not supposed to, but...it was just too cute! Cowboy Joshua and Paco the pick were having it out in one photo. Anyway, it has been a fun week!

Sorry...

2008-09-13T14:40:00.002-04:00

Hey Guys~It has been a busy week...I just wanted to let you all know that my Step Dad Ralph is okay. He is still in the hospital, but he is okay. They are hoping to go home tomorrow or maybe Monday! Please keep them in your prayers as he recovers. Thanks for praying for him! I will post more on us a little later...maybe even tomorrow or Monday...not sure exactly when I will have time!

Three Sleeping Babies

2008-09-08T14:54:00.004-04:00

Well, now that I have three sleeping babies, I have a moment to share a photo or two of my babies with you! We have been extremely busy as this semester is flying by...can you believe it has been three (or maybe 4 weeks) already! WOW! Please continue to pray for us as we adjust.

ALSO, PLEASE PRAY FOR MY STEP DAD, RALPH. HE IS HAVING OPEN HEART SURGERY AT 7AM TOMORROW (CENTRAL TIME).

Well, here are some sweet photos of my family! Goodness, could it get any better? (Notice I ask this while they are ALL sleeping and it is peaceful) I haven't taken many lately, but I decided to add some of the boys from when they were about Lydia's age, lets look and see how much they favor! Also, since you asked, Christina:), here is a photo of Lydia Sunday with the lady who gave her the dress!

Enjoy the photos!

WAR EAGLE

2008-09-01T22:14:00.007-04:00

Well as I mentioned earlier, we got all dressed in our Auburn gear and ate dinner at Chick-Fil-A tonight. As you will see from the photos we had a lot of fun. Joshua LOVES Chick-Fil-A and could not wait to go. He ate his one chicken strip and took off for the playground! Asher had eaten about three fourths of his when Joshua left, Asher could not wait another minute! AND Asher climbed all the way through that play space! He LOVED it, I think he got a little scared some and confused about how to get down...Matt had to go in the play equipment twice to retrieve Asher, but Asher seemed to love it. I wish I could have gotten good photos of Asher, Joshua AND Matt in the play area! It was a great night especially when we all ate for less than $7 and brought home left overs!

Sorry about the one photo...I tried to turn it, actually I thought I did, Matt is so much better at that part than I am, he is just TOO busy to work with this right now. Something is better than nothing!

COULD NOT WAIT!

2008-09-01T15:39:00.003-04:00

Hey Guys! I could not wait! I wanted to show you this photo of Lydia! Is she not beautiful. Okay I know I am a LITTLE partial...but come on! I don't know if the dress makes the girl or the girl makes the dress. Either way I LOVE IT! Okay so I am enjoying a little girl more than I thought I would...Ssshh Don't tell anyone :)

There is also a photo of Lydia's birth sampler that my Granny made her! Isn't it cute? We got it back Friday, and I thought you, Granny might like to see it!

Finally, and I promise not to do this much, but the last photo...I got all that at CVS for just $2.21! I am pumped! NO, I didn't NEED the lip gloss or the Frebreze air freshener thing, BUT those things helped me get the cost down...crazy as that may sound! Anyway, I will try not to put that stuff on here much because, I know most of you don't really care, and I am thinking about starting another blog for that stuff for those who MIGHT care... but I was too excited not to!

With all three things I just could not stand to not post...they were all VERY exciting! Stay tuned tonight we are going to Chick-fil-A all decked out in Auburn wear to get free food! Watch for the photo! :)

TOO LONG!

2008-08-31T13:16:00.003-04:00

Hey Guys~ Well no news is for sure good news. We are in over our heads with the semester and just staying busy. Here are some recent photos...I need to take more pictures. There is one of Joshua that is somewhat silly...he is dressed and ready for mix-match night at Awana. Enjoy the photos! Oh, and please pray for our families...they are preparing for that new hurricane down there!

Just a quick update...

2008-08-25T22:34:00.002-04:00

Hey everyone. Lydia went to the dr on Friday...she now weighs 14 pounds 11 oz. She is SO sweet. We love her and praise God that she is so healthy. Each day she has shown us a little more of her personality! It is great! We love what a precious addition she is to our family. Who knew a girl could change our ways SO much. She even goes CVSing with Mommy! Maybe one day she will learn Mommy's tricks of the trade and have her own Frugally Fun Family!

Joshua went to the dentist this morning. He did GREAT! His teeth looked wonderful according to the dentist, which is all thanks to Dad and the hard work he puts in brushing AND flossing the kids teeth! He started Cubbies last week, which is a class in a program at church called Awana. He has been learning scripture which has been really cool. This week he learned that "God loved us...and sent His son." 1 John 4:10. It is awesome that MY sweet little boy is hiding God's word in his heart!

Asher is also doing well. Praise the Lord he has NOT needed any drs appointments or anything lately. He is talking more, though many of his words are not easily understood. Sometimes I think he is just making noise to make us think he is talking. (so we will not bug him about it!) We recently had some photos made of him and in true Asher fashion, he is not smiling in them. He rarely smiles for people he doesn't know. He does however smile LOTS for us here at home!

Matt is in full swing with school. He seems to be enjoying it, however this will be very tiring for him. Please pray that God will give him the strength to do all that he has before him. This is only for a season and God is very gracious. It seems that Matt may be able to take some intensive courses/exams and shave off as much as 2 YEARS off his Masters! That is really awesome! We are very excited about that.

I am doing well too! I stay busy with normal household chores (though I seem to stay behind), trying to find all the great deals out there on the things we need (and want!) so that we can continue to live on one income and starting this week I think I may start teaching Puggles (the youngest Awana class). We won't actually have a child in that class, so it may be a little break for me!

As a family we are all great. We covet your prayers as this is a very full time in our lives. We are so thankful that the Lord has provided so many opportunities for us to continue to live on one income, which gives us more time as a family. We can not even begin to express how blessed we are by our Father who is our Provider.

Isn't She Lovely

2008-08-21T22:39:00.003-04:00

Well, I told you she wasn't doing much and she has proven me wrong. The past few days she has sat in her exersaucer, babysat her brothers, had a bath and SMILED...

Water Fun

2008-08-17T16:21:00.003-04:00

The other day, we went to the mall with some friends. Outside the mall they have this water area where kids can play. It is lots of fun and water shoots up out of the ground. The kids LOVED it! The that afternoon we had a GREAT storm and so the kids and I built a tent in the living room! Nice and cozy! Sorry, I don't have any new ones of Lydia, but she hasn't changed too much :)

Candace, WE MISSED YOU!

2008-08-16T22:26:00.004-04:00

Hey Candace I just wanted you to know that we had Tara's baby shower tonight, and we missed you LOTS! I even cried at one point thinking about the fun we would have had with you! We played a couple of fun games, here are some photos!

Tomorrow

2008-08-13T20:36:00.003-04:00

Well school officially starts tomorrow for Matt! We are very excited to start on this new leg adventure of our lives. He will be taking three classes and they will be on Tuesday and Thursday afternoon/evening. This is awesome because it will not affect his work schedule at all. (Which will not affect our income at all and should still allow him to have every other weekend off!! :) ) Please pray for us as we begin the school year. Pray for Matt as he prepares to study, attend classes and work. The way it looks it will take Matt about 5 years to complete his degree. There is some hope that he could "test out" of some classes and finish sooner. Please pray that we will be wise in following the Lord's path for Matt's education. We want to be in the center of God's will. Also, pray for Jess as she will be doing more of the housework (since Matt will be studying and no longer able to help as much) and lots of the childrearing with Matt gone.

As for the kids, well, they are doing GREAT! Lydia is still growing like a weed (a good one of course). She sleeps, eats and is beginning to grin and coo a little! It is awesome to watch the boys interact with her.

Asher has had a little tummy virus this week, which we hope is over now. I will spare you all the yucky details, but please pray for us and with us that it is over and did not spread to anyone else!

Joshua is great as well. He was drying off this week and was asking about his frog towel that his great-granny Smith made, Matt was telling him about it and about her. After listening to his daddy Joshua announced that he wanted to marry his great-granny! Sorry Granny, I know how excited you are to hear about your future groom, but we did have to explain that he could not marry her!

I think that covers our past couple of days. I hope you all are well. We would love to hear from you! We love you all!

Crafty Mommies!

2008-08-08T20:29:00.002-04:00

Okay, well I guess most of you never really thought of me as a crafty mommy...and well, I am not. However, I have had a crafty spell here lately and a friend of mine came over and helped me with that itch I was having! Below you will find our creation (wish the idea was all mine, or even hers for that matter, I found it on another blog) it is for a baby shower next weekend!

OH! And in the photo of Lydia, well I made that bow! YAY!

Growing Up!

2008-08-06T15:36:00.003-04:00

Well, it has taken a week this time...Sorry! I won't even try to promise anything better. School starts next week, YES NEXT WEEK!!! That is so shocking to us. Since Matt has not really been in class since December, we are not really sure what to think about the new life that is about to start! Please keep us in your prayers as we begin another school year.

The kids are doing great! Joshua is growing up WAY to fast. Matt has really been working on him with his grammar. When he says a word incorrectly, Matt always tries to help him learn to say it correctly. Last night, Joshua was talking about his life-long friend Owen. For as long as he could talk, Joshua called Owen "O-nen" I honestly have loved it! Well, as you might have guessed, Matt helped Joshua say it correctly and now I am afraid Owen will be Owen...:( Those baby days are over for him!)

And obviously since he is growing so fast, he believes Asher should be too! Joshua was using the potty earlier today (which he does independently now) and obviously Asher had gone in to supervise. Well, I heard Joshua asking Asher if he wanted to sit on the potty and try to pee-pee...OF COURSE Asher did, so I had to rush back to the bathroom to find Joshua had already set the toddler seat on the potty for Asher and was trying to help him get his pants off...

Here are a few fun photos...

Oh, and I am having an Usborne Book party soon! I am so excited about this b/c Usborne books are AWESOME!! They are educational, very, very good quality AND very reasonabley priced!! WE LOVE USBORNE BOOKS! So, if you want to check it out and maybe even order a book or two (assuming you have good self control and can limit it to that :)) feel free to check out this link... www.ubah.com/P2799 if you choose to order books, you can click on my name and that will allow your purchase to go through with my party.

Cutest Kids Ever

2008-07-30T15:03:00.004-04:00

Okay, well I know some of my other "mommy" friends will not agree with that, but, MY KIDS are cute, at least to me and maybe their family! :)

So I thought it had been longer since I posted. Oh well, maybe you all will enjoy the extra photos I have been posting lately and if there comes a time later when I can't post as much (like once school starts) then you can show me grace!

So Lydia is getting cuter and cuter...the clothes she wears now are simply adorable! Especially that Auburn outfit you will see first! Though if you notice she sleeps A LOT! Maybe soon I can show her with her eyes open! The boys are still full of mischief, as you will see and honestly I love it. I love to find them tucked away in some strange place! They are so much fun.

This last photo, is my three kids and my best friend from high school's three kids. If you look close you can see all six! It took a while to get them all close enough to make a photo. They are all precious! It was a blast to have them here for the day Monday! I wish we could do it more!

First Bottle

2008-07-26T20:42:00.002-04:00

Well, Lydia had her first bottle tonight! She took it like a pro. Maybe mom can take a night class this fall! There is still hope for that degree that was started five years ago!

This first photo is Lydia in a six month outfit...can you believe that?

Lydia's first bottle...

Joshua our SUPERHERO!

BIG NEWS!

2008-07-24T14:16:00.003-04:00

We are so proud of Joshua right now! He has successfully worn his big boy undies overnight two nights in a row! (and stayed dry) YAY FOR JOSHUA! We pray that this is not just "beginners luck" and we praise God that it seems so easy for him! Here are a few more photos (dare I post without them?)

Tagged also!

2008-07-24T14:05:00.006-04:00

I was tagged by Candace.
So here it goes.
The Rules: Answer the questions using only one word.
Then tag four others.

1. Where is your cell phone? kitchen
2. Your significant other? work
3. Your hair? everywhere
4. Your mother? home in Alabama
5. Your father? hospital with his mom
6. Your favorite thing? my family
7. Your dream last night? none
8 Your favorite drink? Mountain Dew :)
9. Your dream/goal? to show Christ to all around me
10. The room you’re in? office
11. Your hobby? blogging
12. Your fear? death of family
13. Where do you want to be in 6 years? right here in NC (if the Lord wills)
14. What you’re not? cold
15. Muffins? yummy
16. One of your wish list items? bigger vehicle
17. Where you grew up? Alabama
18. The last thing you did? laundry
19. What are you wearing? jammies
20. Favorite gadget? computer
21. Your pets? Joshua, Asher, Lydia :)
22. Your computer? slow
23. Your mood? peculiar
24. Missing someone? everyone!
25. Your car? small
26. Something you’re not wearing? makeup
27. Favorite store? CVS
28. Like someone? mostly
29. Your favorite color? green
30. When is the last time you laughed? this am
31. Last time you cried? monday

I tag...Jessica, Jodi, Salee, and Roxanne!

How our garden grows!

2008-07-22T14:23:00.004-04:00

Well the kids did AWESOME at the dr this morning. I am SO thankful. This trip went MUCH better than the last time I took all three solo! Asher and Lydia are both doing GREAT! Yesterday when they weighed Joshua he was 33 lbs. Asher now weighs 28 lbs 5 oz. he is 35 3/4 inches long! That is greater than 97% for ht and 80% for weight. Lydia was 23 1/4 inches long (which is greater than 97%) and she weighed an even 12 lbs (which again is greater than 97%). They are very happy with all three kids and said they were doing great!

I am including some photos from our garden! We are loving it! The photos with my toes, are showing you the cantaloupe! HOW AWESOME! We have at least 6-10 coming. We have tons of tomatoes, just very few red ones~any suggestions...

103.8

2008-07-21T21:25:00.003-04:00

SO, what does a child with 103.8 fever look like? Well, if you will notice Joshua in the photos below, you will know! He woke up with a fever after nap today. He was pitiful. So when he was acting totally out of character (saying no to watching Diego) We called the nurse and upon her suggestion went to the dr. After struggling to get the child in the car, we left. As we were driving I kept looking back, he looked horrible. Then all of the sudden Matt and I heard "Whoa, dat a big truck" From then on it was sunshine and roses. He had NO fever at the appointment, was laughing and singing to Lydia, and Matt and I felt like real winners! BUT we got to see our favorite dr and hear about his recent trip to Uganda. He could tell that Joshua was/had been running fever, by his elevated heart rate, but assured us that it was nothing to worry about and sent us home! Here is how the rest of the evening went... (by the way, Joshua was running a slight fever at bed time, so we will see how tomorrow goes, the younger two have Well Baby check-ups in the am, so it should be fun!)

And here is Lydia talking with her friend bunny, (a gift from our SWEET friends The Roberts)