CRASH

Some of you might know of my wish and prayer to have a bigger house.

We moved in here when we got married 10 years ago, renting from Ben's parents, with plans to live here a year or two. Years went by quicker that we thought they would and we just kept adding to the our family with more and more kids. We ended up buying the place from his parents, thinking that we would soon be able to tear down the house ( I wanted to burn it down and be the one that lit the match!) and build a new house in its spot.

As it happens, things just haven't worked out that way and now we are in a tiny house with no money to do anything about it. And now our adding a 6th baby to the mix soon has made me feel the pinch that comes when I think about 8 people living in a 2 1/2 bedroom house.

So, there is this really BIG oak tree that is very close to our house. It has to be 200-300 years old. We've been noticing that it seems to be splitting down the middle. I've been nervous about it because it looked like it could very well demolish our house if it fell. I kinda hoped and prayed a bit that when it fell, we wouldn't be home and that it would destroy the house. It was one of my only hopes that would get me that new house.

Then, this last Friday night, after a big rainstorm, we woke to Ethan yelling to us that the big tree fell. And it did, split right down the middle with it just barely scraping the side of the house, taking a few shingles with it. I have to say I was a little disappointed that it hadn't worked the way I had hoped. But I am so very thankful that God protected our children from that monstrous tree. It could have very easily went through the roof and landed on the kids' bedroom where they sleep on bunk beds.

So now, I have to have hope that God has already decided how we will make it in this house or how He will get us out of it. He showed me that HE's in charge and I need to trust His timing. I may get a little cranky and anxious about what we are going to do, especially in the long winters we have here with all of us squished together all day, everyday. He has a plan for us and I just need to be patient and wait for it. ( if you know me at all- this is soooo hard for me) 

Thanks you, Jesus, for your protection!

1 Fish 2 Fish Red Fish Blue Fish

You might be wondering why I'm posting this much in one day.

Ben and the big boys are fishing.

Ben has fishing on the brain.

Which is nice because its putting fish in our freezer.

He has been trying to go out once or twice a week with the kids and they have been catching their limits of Sunfish every time.

Which is over a 100 at a time ( or more depending on how many kids he has with!).

He even taught Clint and Ethan how to clean and fillet the fish so he's not the only one out there cleaning them for hours at a time.

They even took this crazy mama with once.

He made me put my own worms on ( and you need to realize that I even had to break the worms into smaller pieces with my bare fingers to make them last longer ) and take my own fish off the hooks. That was NOT the fun part. The fun part was watching how excited the kids were each time they pulled one in. Fishing is a really fun thing to do for really cheap. And I'm glad I have a husband who knows how to fish and where to catch them. He is quite the fisherman if I do say so myself:)

Oh, a camping we will go....

The kids were thrilled that we finally taking them camping.

I mean, summer is about over and we hadn't taken them even once this whOOOle summer. Such mean parents!

But when your daddy is a truck driver its hard to make time for camping.

A big group of our friends were all camping together and we'd really wanted to go with them but didn't know until the night before if it would work out for us. So we hurried up and packed the camper up and headed out there.

I think we all really needed it. The kids rode their bikes all over, swam alot and just had fun being together. My favorite part is after we get the kids to bed and all up grown ups can sit around the fire and laugh and relax. We only stayed 2 night but we were thoroughly wiped out by the time we made it home.

I'm hoping we can get one more camping trip in this summer or even this fall.

Enjoy some of the pictures of our fun there.

( notice I don't have hardly any pictures of the older kids because they did their best to not hang around me:)

 

 

It's About Time!

Someone in our house has been impatiently waiting to lose some ivory.

Someone who is 6 years old and thinks that he has waited long enough.

Especially since his younger cousin has lost multiple teeth before him. How dare she;)

 It finally happened.

First a little wiggle.

Then when he couldn't wait any longer he had his older brother pull it out with a pliers.

Yup, he was desperate!

Then after another day or two, he thought the tooth next to that empty space felt a teensy bit loose too. He didn't even wait for it to loosen up more. He had his brother with the trusty pliers there to yank it out.

He looks a little crazy here, and I think he might be if he would let that brother of his near him with a pliers again.

He is always testing out his other teeth now because he "needs" money, he says. That tooth fairy gave him a whole paper dollar for each tooth, and to him that's some easy money!