Good, Bad & Ugly

Okay so here is the good:

1-- We closed on our land today and now we are officially the proud owners of 3 acres. The process was painless--thank you Lord! Not one issue--that is a first for us! WE love the previous owners so much, and the realtors were so wonderful. Their realtor even bought Kevin and I a gift--a beautiful wire basket full of ivy--real ivy. I love it.

2--second good: Eli's skin is looking so good. The eczema is actually healing. I haven't seen him scratch in 3 days! Praise God for that. I'll show you a picture later.

Here is the bad (not really so bad, though)

1--We are not going to move the farmhouse. After much prayer and lots of professional input, it would cost us more to move that house over and restore it than it would to build a new one. Just to move the wires it would cost us around $12,ooo. We can't in good conscience spend that much money for 3 companies to take down 12 wires for about a half an hour. Wasteful? I think so! So we are going to begin building as soon as our house sells. I was a little sad over it, but excited to build something that we will live out our lives in.

(that's all the bad)

Here is the UGLY--

REady? I put Eli down for a nap today and he never quite went to sleep. About a half hour later I heard him talking and fussing. I peeked in the door to find him half naked. And then I smelled it--oh, no. How did he get his pants off?! He was sitting with his diaper in one hand and a fistful of, yes, you guessed it,
C-R-A-P in the other (I won't dress it up and call it something less gross). This is a first for me. I have never had a baby take off his dirty diaper and play in it. I thought my children were above that sort of thing! He just sat there and laughed as I stood there gagging and wondering how I would touch him. His shirt was covered in it. I somehow got his shirt off without getting it in his hair, and managed to stick him in the bathtub without getting anything on me. As I was giving him a bath he stood up and just as I was about to make him sit back down he peed all over me and the side of the tub, and even tried to grab the pee to play with it, laughing in the discovery! Nothing like soaking in a warm bath full of your own filth! Right ? So, that's the ugly.

Sweet "E" with healthy skin and quite happy!

.

I particularly love this picture--"it's just a little pee, mom"

Here are just some random pics of the kids, etc.

Breakfast at the Chisms

waffles with berry artwork--lexi's cross surrounded with hearts

Her beautiful, berrilicous butterfly

So, the last couple of days have been tough on Aaron. He loves school, but he is beginning to put all kinds of pressure on himself. The teacher says he does great at school--no problems--but, when he gets home he lets it all out. He gets really frustrated at anything he can't do or can't do "perfectly." Oh my? They just started this week on handwriting, and we think that might be what is bringing it on. That can be pretty frustrating to a little guy. Well, today his pinned up frustration really came out. They had an ice cream social at school tonight, and a boy (we know and love) who is 3 years older than Aaron, would not take no for an answer, I guess. (He tends to pick on Aaron just a bit.) Kevin looked over at Aaron on top of the boy, pinning him down with his knees, as he unleashed his frustration. Thank goodness his parents know and love us. Kevin had a really good "father and son" conversation about using his strength to protect and not to hurt. He is one of the most tender hearted boys, but when he has had enough, he has HAD ENOUGH!

I hate technology

I hit some "revert" button accidentally on the layout section, and lost all of my new layout. Now I have no "layout" button, and I can't change a thing. What in the world?


***as you can see, I worked it out.

enough?

I know, I have tweaked it again. I have figured out how to do all this digital stuff, and it's so much fun for me! I think I am done now, unless I figure out how to change background with my own stuff and not free background.

Changes

Can you tell I have too much time on my hands? With the kids in school and Eli napping, my creative juices begin to flow! I like to change it up a bit, but I don't know about the title? Too cheesy? Please be honest! I got so bored with the blah grey blog. Seriously, those who love me, tell me what you think, I won't get mad!(Oh, and I know I mispelled "known" in the scripture, I will have to fix it later--it is a process!)

He Ain't Heavy...

Here are some pics of Eli and Aaron after Aaron gets home from school. There's usually some hugs and kisses, followed by a little wrestling. You should hear Eli squealing when he sees Aaron getting dropped off. I love this whole brother thing. Aaron's had a little bit of a hard time with Eli since he was born. He was not so sure about Eli, and really, I think he was not so sure how he fit in with Eli around. We have been talking alot with Aaron about his role as a big brother and how God had a purpose in mind when he created Aaron to be the older brother (not his only purpose, just one of many). God knew Eli would need a brother to look out for him and teach him. Aaron has been stepping up to the role! Last night Aaron went with his Dad to put Eli in the nursery at church, and Eli had a real hard time. Aaron heard him cry and told his daddy that he wanted to stay. There was no class for kids last night, so kevin let him go back in and he heard Eli immediately quiet down. The nursery worker told Kevin later that Eli did fine once Aaron came back in and soothed Eli by playing with him. She said he really took care of him. "How good and pleasant it is when brothers live together in unity!" Psalm 133:1

He Can Move the Mountains

I can hardly get through a church service without crying these days. There has been real breakthroughs in our fellowship! Yesterday I cried almost the whole way through it! God's mercies are abundant and good! This past year I have seen the proud become broken, the broken become mended, the hurting become healed, the lost become found, the sad become joyful, the angry become soft, the lonely become loved--all in the name of Jesus. For so long I believed God could only do so much--what a misconception of truth! He has no boundaries! He is also turning over stones in my own life, and I hope He won't stop until they are all turned. Sometimes that is painful--but necessary. There are two blogs that I want to recommend to any of you to read today that both show how the Lord moves and how big and good He really is, inspite of the suffering we sometimes face in this life.
http://www.audreycaroline.blogspot.com/
http://kjmjules.wordpress.com/

I also wanted to tell you a story about Alexis that is also a demonstration of how He even reveals Himself to our children. We have been praying for God to soften Alexis' heart towards others. Don't get me wrong, I know her love runs deep, but acting on that love has been a difficult thing for her. This past week during her first week of school she has been enjoying playing with last year's friends during recess. There is one girl in her class that tends to play by herself. Last Wednesday I asked Alexis what she did during her 2 recesses. She said that she played a game she had been playing all week with all the same friends she usually plays with during the first recess. But during the second recess she said she talked to the one girl who plays by herself . WE had this precious conversation about their conversation. Yet, my doubtful faith made me think that her teacher must have encouraged Alexis to talk to her and spend time with her. I talked with her teacher this weekend, and much to my delightful surprise, she not only confirmed what Alexis had done on the playground, she added that she had nothing to do with it, it was all Alexis' idea. I cried. I told Alexis how proud I was of her kind heart---and she just beamed, but almost an uncomfortable beam. She told me that when she was in kindergarten she played all by herself on the playground for a long time, until her sweet friend asked her if she would be her friend--they have been the best of friends ever since. She remembered how it felt, and she saw someone who felt that same way, and she acted! This little girl has played with them eversince. God is good. Thank you, Lord, for giving my daughter a taste of your heart, and giving her the courage to act on your behalf.

A Day of Firsts

***(sidenote added Aug. 13) After 2 full days of not speaking at all in class, Aaron's teacher (who takes him home 3 days a week) told me that as soon as he got in her car, he chatted the entire way home, even telling her that he has a "job at the nearby hospital working with computers"? After the conversation with his teacher, I went to talk to Aaron about his day, and he was so excited to tell me: "I didn't talk at all in school, just like Daddy told me!" Kevin was so pleased. We talked to him later about it being okay to speak to the teacher when she asks him something. He did much better today! Oh, and we also talked to him about fibbing to his teacher (we think he might have a little crush on her).



Yesterday was the kids first day of school. Alexis started First Grade today, and Aaron started K-4, which is 1/2 day program. This is Aaron's first time to ever go to school--no preschool or anything like this. He was really excited until he got there, and then he just got very quiet and shy. But, he made no complaint about going and when I picked him up at noon, he said he was ready to back tomorrow. Sure enough, he was dressed and ready to go before anyone else! Alexis had a great time on her first day. The highlight of her day, she said, was that she discovered her tooth was loose! This will be her first loose tooth. What a memory on her first day of first grade! She is actually excited about losing the tooth, which surprises me--she doesn't like to lose anything! When she got in the car she told me that when she loses the tooth she will put it in her tooth box and wait for me to put money in it's place (we nixed the tooth fairy plan) but asked if she could keep the tooth forever! OK? ! So, after we took the kids to school, Kevin and I took Eli to the allergist to get educated on food allergies. Kevin got to give himself a shot, in practice to give Eli one if he ever has a severe reaction to egg again. Lovely! But we are believing that Eli will grow out of this egg allergy one day and not have to ever use one of those Epi shots. But, no worries grandparents everywhere, we will be carrying those Epipens with us at all times! Anyway, yesterday was a pretty great day until I decided to risk stepping on a pillow (long story) on the stairs with Eli in hand, and take a spill down the stairs on my tush! Eli made it allright, but in protecting him I bruised myself up pretty good! I bet it was a hilarious sight, too bad no one was there to watch my first fall down stairs!
Anyway, enjoy the pics!


Almost a little too excited to go to school!

ready to go

Still a little too excited

When Lexi is excited, it really shows

Eli's not sure what the big deal is!

Lexi taking care of her little brother

Great to see her kindergarten friends

waiting to go to his class

My sweet first grader

The strong but silent type

The Greene's

I have been slow to update these days, so sorry! We have been busy with company, and getting the kids ready for school (which starts tomorrow). My siblings from New Jersey came to see us last weekend and we all really enjoyed visiting with them. The kids especially loved playing with them. In fact, since they left the kids have been playing non-stop with their (play) cell-phones--pretending to be talking to John, Felicity and Meggie, and also pretending as though they were playing video games on their phones. It's been quite funny, actually. They loved their "Aunts" and "Uncle", and hope to see them again soon! Thanks for coming guys!

Aaron, Uncle John (13), Alexis, Aunt Felicity (14), Aunt Meggie (21), and Eli

Little Man Walking