Making progress :)

Micah has made sooo much progress in PT and OT. His skill levels are almost all on target, even some above!! We are really just working on building the muscle strength at this point. In his trunk and some in his arms are the main focus. Here he is hard at work in OT.

Although sometimes I get frustrated by him Ethan is such an encourager for Micah......

Branson fun!

So I've been needing to post this for awhile but I guess I was sulking at the fact that somehow several of our pictures got deleted :( None the less, we had lots of fun and I need to share ;) We left on Friday and stayed till Sunday. 

The older 2 rode with my parents as the  younger 2 needed naps (we left at naptime on Friday) so here they are sleeping peacefully :)
Our plan was to get to Branson in time to eat dinner at Branson landing and watch the laser light show. Saturday we were going to swim at the resort in the morning, which ended up being spent buying coats as it was sooooo cold! Old Navy had hats and scarves for $1 each!! And their coats were 50% off :) So we went back to the condo to eat lunch and put Micah down for his nap. David stayed with him and the rest of us headed out to Silver Dollar City (to be joined by David and Micah later).  So we hit the shops and things Micah wouldn't have attention for first and saved the cave and rides (Davie wanted to ride them with Ethan) for later. 

Don't they look cute. 

My mom and Brianna. 
Ethan wanted to check out the map with Grandpa to make sure we didn't miss anything and to know what rides they had ;) 
One of the first things we did was ride a horse and carriage.....can you tell it was freezing there?!?
The gang in front of the Blacksmith's shop. 
This ended up being the only photo from Marvel Cave that didn't get erased.... I don't remember which "room" we were in, but I think it was the Cathedral room. (See, David and Micah did make it :)

After dinner and the cave however Micah was getting bored so he and David (isn't he an AWESOME dad, and loving husband!) headed back to the condo while we went to see the Christmas tree and parade. I think Micah would have like them, but he's not good at holding our hands to walk yet and was tired of being in the stroller :(

Sorry it's sideways, but this was so cool that I had to at least post a partial clip of this neat Christmas tree display!




Here's everyone bundled and waiting for the parade.
Grandpa gave Ethan a piggy back ride back up to the front of the park.
After our busy afternoon we all headed back to the condo, showered and had a bedtime snack! LOL

Micah was sleepy and enjoyed some cuddle time with Grandpa :)

Here's Micah enjoying his breakfast on Sunday morning, poptarts :)
After checking out of the condo we went to eat lunch at a place called "The Hard Luck Diner". The food was very good and all the servers sing...........well except ours :( Even one of the cooks came out and sang! We all had fun!
Caleb was in another one of his "I don't want you to take a picture of me." moods....
Ethan was waiting for Daddy and Grandpa to decide what they wanted so they could play the games with him! LOL

Micah was having fun playing with the people out the window who were waiting in line to eat here. Brianna enjoyed playing the games on the kids menu too.

It was to cute to watch Micah dancing to the songs the servers were singing :)

The vote is in.....

Brianna took a TRU (teachers R us, meaning us moms take turns teaching in pairs) class called Electing America's Leaders this semester. She had fun and I was STRETCHED!! LOL David is the government guru in our family however I'm quickly learning ;) In any case, they've been learning about the setup of our government, many of the offices within our government, and of course the processes of an election. We also ran an election of our own so they could get a feel for how an election works. It came down to 2 Emilys for class president, one of which was a pretty close friend of Brianna's. They even got to participate in a phone bank and call friends/family members to ask for their votes in the election! They had a great time. Below is a picture of Brianna "signing in" so she can vote.
And here she is in the "voting booth" filling out her ballot :)
Placing her vote in the box to be counted!!

And she even got an I voted sticker :)

So, if you had ANY doubts she was still learning this year........I hope this cancels those :)

science project ?

Upon cleaning out the refridgerator from leftovers we found this.....

Now earlier this year we TRIED to grow mold for a science project to no avail.... guess we tried to hard cause we got this interesting mold without even trying!! As Christine would say, "Just keeping it real." :)

Tough Day....

So I'm having an unusually tough day and was reminded by this:

Thanks That Stands Out

It has taken me many years to understand the admonishment in

Scripture to be thankful in all circumstances. (1Thes 5:18) Sadly,

there were many years I even wrestled with a resentful heart at the

suggestion. It did not make sense to me to praise God when things in my life

were a struggle. My immature heart questioned how I could praise Him when

everything wasn’t “right”. I frequently wondered if He was aware of our finances,

loss, or fear. Miserably, it was with gritted teeth and reluctant obedience that I

praised our Savior.

Over the last few decades, as my relationship with Christ has grown more

intimate, my focus has completely changed. I have learned to trust Him explicitly

in every detail of my life. And it has become apparent that one of the reasons

God requires me to be thankful is to protect my heart. Thanksgiving is fabulous

insulation from discouragement and despair. In fact, one of the powerful secrets

of a thankful heart is that nothing can crush it; not disappointment or illness or

loss or any other overwhelming circumstance. A thankful heart is powerful. Isn’t it

just like God to make thanksgiving for our benefit as well?

And thankfulness has yet another dimension that I did not recognize until three

years ago. One day, in my effort to help us walk out Laura’s illness with

thanksgiving, I pulled out an old quilt top. For months, we discussed and

practiced being thankful by adding a Hot Pink embroidery stitch each time we

found something to be thankful for-new medication, a kind nurse, time together,

or a word of encouragement. Before our eyes those Hot Pink stitches

transformed the ordinary cream and navy patches into a real conversation piece

that could not be overlooked. We watched in wonder as giving thanks

transformed Laura’s heart in such a way that she began dramatically impacting

everyone around her. That’s when it dawned on us. A thankful heart cannot be

overlooked! Like a Hot Pink stitch in an ordinary quilt, so is a thankful heart in an

ordinary life.

Hot Pink moments of thanks come more often than we realize. Immediately I

think of my friend, Jannette. Just last week, I was talking to her about her

daughter’s terrible accident and near fatal head injury. We were talking about

trusting God with our children. As she shared her response after receiving the call

about the accident she said, “I hung up the phone and remembered to be

thankful. I started thanking God that I had a car and that I could drive to the site,

that her father was already with Eleora, that we could get her to a hospitalGand

now, of course, I am so thankful she is recovering well.” My eyes welled up with

tears as I heard her story. Jannette’s response was not ordinary; it was Hot Pink!

Her thankful heart cannot be overlooked and makes me want to know our Savior,

who so lovingly cared for her, all the more.

Lord, please transform my heart. I want to always give you Hot Pink praise!

ERIN

“Give thank to the LORD, call on his name; make known among the nations what he has

done, and proclaim that his name is exalted.” Isaiah 12:4-5

that I needed to remember to thank the Lord even in the midst of our roughest times. So here are some of the things I'm thankful for today.

1. A Savior who loves me even when I'm unlovable.

2. That I have 4 healthy children

3. Our "farm" animals

4. Food in the kitchen

So even though I've focused more on the negative things most of the day today I'm now going to choose to thank the Lord for these things and try harder to find things to be thankful for even in the midst of days that don't *seem* to have things to be thankful for!

PS. I went to our homeschool support meeting Tue after I wrote this and here's a picture I thought I'd share of the quilt top she was talking about :)

He's still in control..........

I don't know what His plan is, or why Obama won this election, but I just have to lean strong and hard on my faith and KNOW that God is in control no matter how it appears. How many times did God show Himself to the children of Isreal while they were in the desert? Sooo many. So I'm just going to have to do my part to continue praying for our government and leaders and trust that God has a plan and I can trust His plan better than my own..............but boy does it also remind me how much closer we ARE getting to the end!

More new additions!

Well, the monthly aution was today! We knew we were going to be adding chickens, but David also surprised us with 2 bunnies since we'd lost Fluffy :) He's so thoughful! The really nice part is that they are smaller so they are much easier to handle. I'm not sure yet if they are a dwarf breed or if they are still just very young. Brownie (the brown one) was also either not well cared for or housed with other rabbits that hurt her, or recently had babies, as she's a little boney and missing lots of her lower fur.........like when they pull it out to make a "nest" for the babies. The other bunny we aren't sure yet if it's male or female as it has sooooo much fur I couldn't get a good look. David had to leave as soon as he dropped them off so I'll have to wait till he gets back home and have him help me check it out ;) I'm hoping they are both girls as I'm not quite ready to deal with babies given the season changing and all the new animals we've added! LOL 

This is our unamed, sex unknown rabbit :)
And this would be Brownie ;) Although since not EVERYONE was involved in the naming, it IS subject to change :) LOL

And this is part of the new hutch David is building for them :) I say he's doing a pretty great job especially considering he had no plans/pattern to look at!