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Adventures of July 21st



Daddy drove me a half an hour away to his company picnic at the Lazy 5 Ranch, they promised me a full day of fun. First we got on a horse pulled wagon and I realize mommy had a camera.



We saw a Zebra- that's what Daddy called it, I just know it wasn't a human.


Then Daddy took a picture of mommy and I on the wagon looking at all the animals.


Then we saw a long horned steer, it kept following the wagon

at the end of the tour we saw it trying to get in someone's car!

i learned that buffalo have really big mouths and tongues.

We saw Giraffes too! We saw tons of animals but...

I got fussy.

the swing made me happy.

After the family picnic we had to go get the car inspected, so we went to a local shop where mommy did something that made her cry...

Notice anything? here's a closer one...

Yup, mommy got her nose pierced, and it hurt even though the lady doing it said it wouldn't...

So many new things, so little time



I kept saying I was going to inform the blogger world of all the new stuff going on in my life, but have yet to have time. As you can see we had our pictures taken two weeks ago. A friend of ours from church took them, they came out very good and once we get the edited copies, there will be more posted- especially of Lexi.
First things first- we moved! Yup, we now live in North Carolina again. If you want my address email me and I'll give it to you if I feel you need it. Eugene got a new job so we moved. The job is awesome, it's commercial drafting for a company with amazing benefits. As a matter of fact the reason i have so little time right now is because in an hour we will be leaving for the company picnic which is being held here.
Lexi is going to be one in 12 days. I can't believe it. I was looking at the pictures from when she was first born it seems like yesterday, she was so tiny and perfect. Now she's growing and well... the sin nature has started to kick in. She's still lazy though, no walking or crawling even for this girl, rolling is her choice of mobility.
Some of you might remember me announcing that I was pregnant, well about a month ago we found out I had a Molar Pregnancy. Luckily I had the lesser evil of the two, the partial which has less of a chance of causing cancer and it also means we only have to wait 6 months before trying to get pregnant again.
In an overview that is what has been going on, I'll post more once i have more time and more pictures. I'll leave you with one more...

caught ya!


here's another cute picture of Lexi.

My little Chef



This is Lexi playing with her little kitchen. she loves that toy!

Mother of the year award goes to ME.

I just wanted to let the blogging world know what a great mother I am. Some of you know I watch my friend's baby on Thursday's and Fridays, her name is Emma and she's one. Since she is a few months older than Lexi she is also further along developmentally. She is passed the crawling stage, and standing stage, she now walks and runs. Well Lexi... all she does is sit's up. So today they were both sitting on my lap we were watching Blue's Clues. I was very distracted. Well one of the babies stood up so I let go figuring Emma wanted to walk away to get a toy or something. Well that baby quickly did a face plant right into the floor. I looked and notice it was LEXI!!! OOPS! She's never stood up like that before by herself without my help, so i just assumed it was Emma! What a great mother I am... On the plus side I guess Lexi is starting to pull up to standing by herself!! She just doesn't have the balance down yet

random post about nothing

Nothing is going on here. That is the reason for the long spaces between posts. I have nothing to say. But I'm in a talking (typing) mood right now and Beth is not on IM, so that leaves you- the unknown blog readers.
I've been emotional lately, crying at every little sentimental thing- must be the pregnancy. I am pretty excited cuz I saved money at CVS. I bought Huggies Grins and Giggles bath wash for Lexi and Degree deodorant for me and only spent $3.36 after tax. pretty cool huh?
I took Lexi to the Doctor today because Emma came down with strep throat and since Emma was chewing on Lexi's binky on Friday I thought for sure she'd get it, but she's fine. YAY GOD!
Our Woman's Bible study is over for the summer, i'm relieved and sad at the same time. That just leaves one more day of me doing nothing, but i was kinda getting sick of doing that Bible study. Not that it wasn't good, I was just ready for it to be over.
So Beth made a budget for us, it's pretty funny when you look at all our bills and out going money and realize there's not much for food and house hold things. And there's none for getting the car fixed or dr bills or any of that stuff. That's not Beth's fault though, it's the fact that we just don't have enough money for it to make sense on paper. God always provides though, somehow. I think I'd rather not know how He does it. It keeps things exciting. Our utility bill is only $98.13 this month, how cool is that? it's normally like $145. about 4 months ago it was up to around $170.
In two weeks we will be going to VA to pick up Eugene's nephew Cody. He is 16. He's gonna stay with us for a month, I think he has a job which will be good that will give him a chance to save some money, and get out of the house. He's the oldest of five so it will probably be weird for him to be without other people in his business for that long.
Mother's day was so much fun. I haven't relaxed that much in forever. After church Jim and Kathy took us to Logan's for lunch- YUMMY. then we went to there house and crashed on their back deck. I sat on their deck from about 1:30 until 11pm. Well, actually around 9 I moved from the deck to the yard where the fire was. (I brought my comfortable lawn chair though). It was very fun. Since we have no money i didn't get any physical presents, but Eugene did the dishes for me and that was way better. There were a lot of dirty dishes sitting on the counter.
So yah. This is the summary of my nothingness. hope you enjoyed it.

Mother's Day

I didn't write this! My mom got it in an email and I thought it was great so i decided to post it. Enjoy.

LOVE IN THE HOME

If I live in a house of spotless beauty with everything in its place, but
have not love, I am a housekeeper--not a homemaker.

If I have time for waxing, polishing, and decorative achievements, but have
not love, my children learn cleanliness--not godliness.

Love leaves the dust in search of a child's laugh.
Love smiles at the tiny fingerprints on a newly cleaned window.
Love wipes away the tears before it wipes up the spilled milk.
Love picks up the child before it picks up the toys.

Love is present through the trials.
Love reprimands, reproves, and is responsive.
Love crawls with the baby, walks with the toddler, runs with the child, then
stands aside to let the youth walk into adulthood.
Love is the key that opens salvation's message to a child's heart.

Before I became a mother I took glory in my house of perfection.
Now I glory in God's perfection of my child.
As a mother, there is much I must teach my child, but the greatest of all is
love.

warm summer day


I took Lexi outside today to take some pictures, this was the best one, although they all came out excelent. I love the bright colors they add so much to the picture.



here's another picture for you.... Lexi is going to be a big sister.

a step in the right direction

My husband share this news article with me, and I thought I'd share it with you. The Supreme Court passed the law to ban partial birth abortions. Although the article is clear that the number of abortions performed will not decrease because they are still allowed to use an alternative form of an abortion which is actually more common, it's still a step in the right direction. At least someone is taking a stand for the lives of babies. I am proud of whoever wrote that article because it actually explains what the abortions do to the babies... "The procedure at issue involves partially removing the fetus intact from a woman's uterus, then crushing or cutting its skull to complete the abortion. " "the law will not reduce the number of abortions performed because an alternate method — dismembering the fetus in the uterus — is available and, indeed, much more common." If only they would replace the word Fetus with baby. As I said, it's a step in the right direction.

Wonderful Husbands Unite!

I had to post about my wonderful husband. This morning he came in to kiss me goodbye. I was still laying in bed with Lexi, and he was leaving for work. Something that i always feel bad about. Anyway, he stood by the side of the bed and was telling me bye and look down at my pile of clothes on the floor from the day before(something I never do) he said "i hope none of those are dirty cuz i just did all the laundry". I was so overwhelmed by the fact that he was wonderful enough to do not one but TWO loads of laundry this morning before i even got out of bed that i missed the irony of the situation. See, the pile of clothes next to my side of the bed was all my clothes, i NEVER leave my clothes on the floor, i always either throw them in the hamper if they're dirty or my jeans i fold and put away. However, he used to constantly take off his clothes and leave them in piles around the room, i would pick them up, but for some reason i never seemed to notice the piles on the floor by his side of the bed until after laundry was done then i would say... yup you guessed it "i hope none of those are dirty cuz i just did all the laundry." HE HE HE. Anyway, not only did he do the laundry he put away all the clean dishes for me too! What a wonderful husband.
The reason for the title "Wonderful Husband's Unite" is because Josh (Beth's husband) was wonderful the other day too. She's been sick so I'm sure that's why she hasn't posted about how wonderful he was to her the other day... I'll let her tell you what he did. Here's her blog so you can check it. I'm just proud of wonderful husbands. There needs to be more wonderful husbands in the world. If your husband is wonderful- tell me about it. :)

in the world not of it

so our commenting on my Easter bunny post got me thinking and i decided to just blog again instead of writing another comment...
Christ calls us to be in the world not of it right? So where do you draw the line with Holiday traditions? We already discussed the Easter bunny, Stacy and her amazing memory educated us about how getting all dressed up in new clothes is from the same pagan tradition. So if the Easter bunny is pagan, that pretty much means Easter eggs are pagan which to me means if we are going to be in the world and not of it as followers of Christ we should not take part in Easter egg hunts or Easter baskets or anything to do with the Easter bunny. It also means we should not buy our daughters those frilly dresses to wear on Easter (that doesn't mean they can't get a frilly dress and wear it some other day- hey if you wait until after Easter it will be on clearance and you can save money!) The thing that gets me about this is that most churches (mine included) has Easter egg hunts for the children. The next holiday is Halloween. I know I don't have to explain to you that Halloween is a paganistic holiday, I'm sure you can guess from the ghosts and witches... So that eliminates dressing up and trick or treating. Once again... churches (mine included) have things called Fall Festivals or something similar to allow children to dress up and get candy and have fun. One more holiday, Christmas. The biggest thing here is Santa Clause. Yes he was a real man who helped out a family in need by putting presents down their chimney because he didn't want to be known- yet he got turned into a "saint" and is now the main reason for most people's Christmases. How is all of this being in the world and not of it? It's always bothered me that churches have events like Easter egg hunts and harvest parties, to me it says "if you change the name of something bad and do it at a church it's not bad". A little confusing to me let alone the children. So what is your input? I admit Lexi had an Easter dress this year, of course I had forgotten about that part being bad, but even if I had known she probably would have gotten one. I'm really leaning towards we should not celebrate in any way Halloween and Easter should be kept as the day we remember Christ's Resurrection- AKA Resurrection Sunday. So what do you think... do we have Easter egg hunts? Do we get our pictures taken with Santa clause and the Easter bunny? Do we have celebrations on Halloween? Or is that what Christ would consider being of the world?

hmmm

My cousin showed me this article and I thought I would share it with you guys. I might be a little confused but last time I checked the Easter Bunny was NOT Christian. It started from some pagan worship rituals, people serving their gods- nothing to do with Christ or Christianity! wake up world, if anything, the Easter Bunny is ANTI CHRIST.

Texas

So we went to Texas for Easter to visit my mom. I was so excited to bring all Lexi's summer clothes and show them off, they're so much cuter than long pants and long sleeved shirts. here's a picture we took of her outside the day before Easter....



Yah, that's right... snow, in texas... the day before Easter!!!

welcome Benjamin!!

so incase you didn't know my friend beth had her adorable baby boy on the 29th of March. you can read all about him here . He's so cute. Congradulations Zapf family!
well, tomorrow morning we leave for texas... and by morning i mean 5:00 am we will be leaving our house. A friend of ours is bring us to the airport and our flight leaves at 7am. we don't arrive in Dallas until 11 (that's central time) and then we have a 2.5 hour drive to my moms house. Ugh what a long day of traveling with an infant! oh well it will be worth it in the end!
So this will probably be my last post until we get home then i'll hopefully have all sorts of pictures of Lexi and her cousins. :) have a great Easter!

My little sunshine

 
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Here's a family shot... best out of three of course you can see the huge wet spot on Lexi's shirt from her sippy cup, but that's ok!
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This is some of Eugene's family, his mom is on the far right, his brother in law Jason is next, then his niece and his sister, April then Lexi and him!
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Lexi and her nana
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blogging is for overachievers

That's how i feel anyway. Maybe it's just because i feel guilty that i haven't blogged in forever. Eugene's family was here from Monday till Saturday. That was a lot of fun. We had five adults, one six year old and Lexi in our little two bedroom apartment. Nothing beats family. We pretty much sat here and did nothing the whole week too, Thursday afternoon Eugene took time off of work and we all went to the Ocoee river. We drove all the way out there, grilled some hamburgers and hotdogs and then it starting pouring down rain so we didn't even get to walk around. we packed up and left because we were cold and wet and about 2 miles down the road the sun was shining and the ground was dry! So we went and got ice cream. he he.
Oh, Eugene and i went out twice without Lexi! one time with his sister and brother in law. We went to IHOP and drank lots of coffee then went to walmart. The second time we took his niece out to go see Meet The Robinsons. don't waste your money watching that movie. it was dumb. the only funny parts they show in the preview the rest is all sad and serious.
Thursday we leave for Texas, we have to be at the airport around 5:30am. that will be ewwy. i'm praying that flying doesn't bother Lexi's ears and that they don't lose our luggage. but we'll be there until Monday so it will be a nice vacation for us. not to mention the fact that i'll get to see all my nieces! (I have three new nieces i've never seen!)
I'm babysitting today-wednesday, both girls were sleeping but Lexi just woke up so i'll post some pictures then leave.

My Celebrity Look-alikes

My cool celebrity look-alike collage from MyHeritage.com. Get one for yourself.

Lexi's first chocolate


Yup. we're such bad parents. Lexi is 7 months old and was enjoying her first candy bar. Hershey's with Almonds. We didn't let her have any of the nuts though. And yesterday she was enjoying my steak. She has no teeth so all she does is suck and get the juice, and man she loved it. She'd scream when i'd put it down and take a bit for me. She just wanted that steak in her mouth! Someday she'll be able to enjoy chewing it as much as she enjoys sucking on it!

Just another normal Wednesday

This week i've been watching Emma, my friend's baby. I normally just watch her Thursdays and Fridays but something came up with the lady who watches her the rest of the week. Which is fine, it's actually fun, She's 10 months old and crawls and pulls up on things- she entertains Lexi who just lays there and rolls like a log. :) Someday Lexi will figure out how to move by either army crawling or crawling normally... we're still waiting for that day. Anyway, they girls are both napping, so I thought I'd take advantage of the peace and quiet and blog a little bit. So Jes, what's going on in your life? I know that is what you all are wondering. so i'll answer that question.
Right now Eugene and I have been praying that things work out with this real estate agent we're working with and that we can get approved for a house. We've been excited and looking at houses online in our price range for a week now, but we're still waiting to hear if we can get a loan. That has pretty much consumed our thoughts as you can imagine it's quite exciting to think soon we could be in our own place.
Eugene's been busy at work and church lately, at work they are almost done remodeling the office to make room for another person. They've been so busy and had a lot of work come in that 2 people is no longer enough. They also have a high school intern who comes in for a couple hours every day. Our Church is also in the process of building. We bought a new building in January which was used primarily as a youth club, so they've been working on building a couple walls, and laying carpet over the basketball court (that's the new sanctuary). Eventually they are going to begin real construction work on building the nurseries and classrooms, for now they will be in portable buildings. And after the classrooms are built they will begin building a sanctuary. Another thing he's been busy with is the youth, he's one of the Middle school youth leaders and he loves it. Since spring is here and summer is coming they have a lot of activities planned, camps, retreats, trips... he's gonna be pretty busy. In two weeks they will be attending Aquire the Fire in Nashville for a weekend, then labor day weekend is survivor camp, then in June he will be in Florida for a whole week for camp. So yah, he's going to be busy. On top of it all he just informed me that his 10 year high school reunion is going to be soon... he's so old. ;)
Lexi's not doing much, aside from perfecting the rolling. She is very interesting in the crawling she sees Emma do though. She's still got a cold, actually, i'm begining to think she's got bad allergies to what? i don't know. She's already 7 months old- which i cannot believe and has a head that's in the 90th percentile. For those of you who don't know what the whole percentile thing means- that means her head is bigger than 90% of other 7 month old girls heads... yah she's got a big head.
Most of my day is consumed with cleaning, cooking, and watching the baby/babies. I also am quite addicted to the internet and love to spend Lexi's naps sitting here looking up whatever i can and talking to my friends on AIM. I'm also getting excited for Easter, we will be taking a trip to Texas to visit my mommy, step dad and all my step siblings. As well as the 3 new nieces i've never met. We will be flying which excites me even more cuz #1 i love flying, #2 it beats a 20 hour trip in a car with a baby! Oh, i've also been getting ready for a yard sale. I love to sell stuff. I recently decided I am sick of "pretties" (things that sit on shelves and collect dust just because they're cute to look at). So 90% of my "stuff" is sitting in a pile in the middle of my bedroom. Soon it will be moved to Kathy's basement/garage until whatever Saturday in April she has picked out for the yard sale. It really helps that we are hoping to be moving because i'm pretty sure we wont be getting anything bigger than the apartment that we're in so Eugene is willing to let stuff go so that our house isn't cluttered. (he's a bit of a pack-rat).
Ok, i need to go do my devo's and my Bible study before these girls wake up. Have a great day!
myspace

i wanna be a rock-star...

Lexi's first pair of shades... isn't she so cool?

Baby's first box


Lexi is thinking "Hmm, is it really possible to stick my binky and the rattle in my mouth at the same time? Let me try." Yesterday afternoon Lexi was SO fussy she would not stop screaming unless i was holding her, and i had supper to cook so i couldn't hold her. So i thought...Hmm, let's see if Lexi likes boxes! and well, she did!

Stir- Fry

Yummy steak stir-fry! i never would have guessed something so easy would look and taste so good!!!! I do have one thing to say.. Thank God for Uncle Ben. i tried making plain rice once it was so nasty so this time i thought i'd use Uncle Ben 90 second rice... OH MY OH MY. it was so yummy!! Go me! (haha this was the easiest meal and i made it sound like it was hard.)

Chicken noodle goodness



That is my Chicken Noodle Soup, I made it all by myself!! and it is SO yummy. i wanted to share the picture. See for V-day I made a whole chicken- for the first time ever and it was very good. but Eugene and i barely made a dent in it, so i decided i would use some of the extra to make chicken noodle soup. One problem, Eugene doesn't eat it, but I do! he he. So as i was cooking it this morning i realized how much soup i was making and that it was going to take me 3 years to eat it all, So I'm going to share it with another family, I'm even making cornbread muffins for them! yummy! Anyway, my first attempt at chicken noodle soup was very successful.

rolling over

Aparently i never informed the blogger world that Lexi is rolling over now (finally) Last Saturday January 20, so rolled for the first time- of course it was when we weren't in the room. Sunday she decided to allow us to see her roll. I have a video but i'm not sure i can figure out how to post it. I will try though. I recorded it on my phone and was talking to her so my voice is really loud though, so if i get it on there you have to turn down or off your volume.

cold or teething or both?

Well, I'm not sure what is going on with Lexi right now, i have a feeling she is teething because she's been pretty fussy. She also has real bad congestion, they say that some babies get cold like symptoms when they teethe though, so I'm not sure which it is. Poor girl can't breath through her nose and was up all night tossing and turning, coughing, sneezing, sniffing whining and crying. Which as you can imagine meant i was up all night too! We had her in our room so she was close, and i was up about every 30 minutes to suck out her nose with the blue sucky thing they gave us in the hospital. which just made her more mad. The poor little girl. The reason i am wondering whether it is a cold or just teething is because Yesterday afternoon she was so fussy (just ask Beth) and i tried everything. Finally Beth in her mighty motherly wisdom said "did you try orajel?" now why didn't i think of that?! so when i put it on her gums she stopped screaming. she eventually started fussing again, but fell asleep finally. the numb mouth entertained her for about 30 minutes! Thanks Beth!

Get to Know the Homemaker in Me!

Stolen from Beth who stole it from Onward and Upward
Aprons – Y/N? If Y, what does your favorite look like? unfortunatly no apron for me. I went looking for one about a month ago and the only place i found them was at Kmart and they were $10. I think that's way too much to pay for something that will just get messy.

Baking – Favorite thing to bake hmm, either cookies or caramel popcorn.

Clothesline – Y/N? not here, we use a dryer! for things that can't go in a dryer we either throw over a chair or pull down the drying rack

Donuts – Have you ever made them? nah, looks like too much work for me, plus we have a dunkin donuts down the road.

Every day – One homemaking thing you do every day i don't know as though there is anything i do every day... i make the bed, oh and i straighten out the couch cover cuz it always gets messed up. and I cook supper...

Freezer – Do you have a separate deep freeze? nope and if we did it would always be empty

Garbage Disposal – Y/N? nope, never had that luxury

Handbook – What is your favorite homemaking resource? for food Allrecipies.com for other things it's either my mom or Beth

Ironing – Love it or hate it? Or hate it but love the results? Who needs an iron when you have a dryer??

Junk drawer – Y/N? Where is it? it's in the kitchen, in the buffet. it has phone books, all our manual for everything, then all the junk

Kitchen – Color and decorating schemeColor? 1970's apartment kitchen...

Love – What is your favorite part of homemaking? has to be the end of the day when the house is clean, and the husband walks through the door and actually notices.

Mop – Y/N? NEVER. i'm a hands and knees scrubber. and that happens about once a month.

Nylons – Wash by hand or in the washing machine? people still wear those?

Oven – Do you use the window or open the oven to check?I dont have a window.

Pizza – What do you put on yours? Cheese.

Quiet – What do you do during the day when you get a quiet moment? I'm addicted to Beth, so i either talk on AIM or if she's not on i call my sis-in-love.

Recipe card box – Y/N? What does it look like? um it's yellow and light blue with a rooster on it.

Style of house – What style is your house? Right side of a duplex, 2 bedroom, 1 bath, 1 kitchen 1 livingroom and a nice laundry room.

Tablecloths and napkins – Y/N? nah, place mats do the job if we ever eat at the table... Under the sink Organized or toxic wasteland? organized

Vacuum – How many times per week?About 2 times

Wash – How many loads of laundry do you do per week? about 5 sometimes 6.

X’s – Do you keep a daily list of things to do that you cross off? nope!

Yard – Y/N? Who does what? we have a nice yard and the landlord does all the work

Zzz’s – What is your last homemaking task for the day before going to bed? straightening up all the rooms. I make sure all the little stuff is put away, the dirty dishes are nicely stacked by the sink, pretty much i make sure everything is in it's place. I hate waking up knowing that i might trip on something, or knowing that the dishes don't just need washed, they need super scrubbed.

Great mystery of the universe has been solved

So Where do your socks go when you do laundry? That has been the question for many years. Today while switching loads I figured out what happens. Have you ever pulled the lint rack out of the dryer and looked down into the deep abyss? Have you seen how the sides are lined with thick dryer lint? That is the missing socks. You see what happens is when you turn on the dryer the socks blow up into tiny TINY pieces of lint, too small for the lint rack to catch. They go in and attach themselves to the inside walls of the dryer to haunt you forever. There you go.. now you know what happened to all those socks that disappeared over the years.

34th Anniversary of America's Death

On January 22nd, 1973 America made the stupidest decision ever. They made it legal to kill children. Tomorrow people everywhere will be celebrating their freedom, the freedom that to this day has claimed over 40 MILLION lives. America the land of the brave, the land of the free, the land of the dead. In this country you will go to jail if you kill a spotted Owl, you will go to jail if you kill a Bald Eagle, you will go to jail if you cut down certain trees, you will even be fined if you pick certain flowers. However if you want to have your child brutally murdered- go for it, that's been legal for 34 years now. If you were pregnant and driving to an abortion clinic to have that "fetus" disposed of but as you were walking up to the door someone came and punched you in the stomach killing the baby that person would be charged with the murder of a baby; but had you actually gone in and had the abortion it would have been fine because it's not a child. Does this make sense to you?
So the Fetus is not a baby huh? it's just a clump of tissue? Well what happens if you leave that tissue alone for awhile? we all know what happens if it's left alone for 9 months, Let me clue you in on a couple more facts not everyone might know.
By Day 22- before you know you're pregnant that "clump of Tissue" has a beating functional heart. His heart, brain, spinal column, and nervous system are almost complete and his eyes begin to form.
Week 4: His muscles are developing, and arms and leg buds are visible. His large, distinct head is clearly identifiable, along with the major outlines of brain and eye vesicles, the beginnings of his central nervous system, mouth and pharynx, body cavity, and the basis of his skeleton
Week 6: The brainwaves of this little boy can be recorded. His different muscles begin working together.
Week 9-10: All areas of his body are sensitive to touch. He sucks his thumbs, swallows, squints, frowns and puckers his brow. If his palm is stroked, he will make a tight fist.

That is just a few facts that you might not have known. Today I tried to watch a video of an abortion, I got 3 seconds into it and almost threw up out of anger and it was also VERY gruesome. I was going to put the link on here but it's too much for me, if you have a strong stomach and are prochoice or prodeath as i like to call it I'm asking you to watch one. If you dont have a very strong stomach then I'll write a little more for your knowledge.
Here are some common abortion methods I got these from a website (www.rockforlife.org)

1. Suction Aspiration: This is the procedure most often used in the first trimester of pregnancy (the first three months). The abortionist inserts a suction tube (similar to a vacuum hose with an extremely sharp end) into the mother's womb. The suction and cutting edge dismember the baby while the hose sucks the body parts into a collection bottle.

2. Dilation and Curettage (D & C): In this procedure, the abortionist uses a loop shaped knife to cut the baby into pieces and scrape the uterine wall. The baby's body parts are then removed and checked to make sure that no pieces were left in the mother's womb.

3. Dilation and Evacuation (D & E): This form of abortion is used to kill babies in the second trimester (24+ weeks). The abortionist uses a forceps to grab parts of the baby (arms and legs) and then tears the baby apart. The baby's head must be crushed in order to remove it because the skull bone has hardened by this stage in the baby's growth.

4. Dilation and Extraction (also known as D & X or Partial-Birth Abortion): Used to kill babies well into the third trimester (as late as 32 weeks old), the abortionist reaches into the mother's womb, grabs the baby's feet with a forceps and pulls the baby out of the mother, except for the head. The abortionist then jams a pair of scissors into the back of the baby's head and spreads the scissors apart to make a hole in the baby's skull. The abortionist removes the scissors and sticks a suction tube into the skull to suck the baby's brain out. The forceps are then used to crush the baby's head and the abortionist pulls the baby's body out the rest of the way.

5. Salt Poisoning: This technique is used in the second and third trimester. The abortionist sticks a long needle into the mother's womb. The needle contains salt which is then injected into the amniotic fluid surrounding the baby. The baby breathes in, swallows the salt and dies from salt poisoning, dehydration, brain hemorrhage and convulsions. Taking nearly an hour to die, the baby's skin is completely burned, turns red and deteriorates. The baby is in pain the entire time. The mother goes into labor 24 - 48 hours later and delivers a dead baby.

6. Prostaglandins: Used during the second and third trimester, prostaglandin abortions involve the injection of naturally produced hormones into the amniotic sac, causing violent premature labor. During these convulsions the baby is often crushed to death or is born too early to have any chance of surviving.

7. Hysterotomy: Performed in the third trimester, this is basically an abortive Cesarean section (C-section). The abortionist makes in an incision in the mother's abdomen and removes the baby. The baby is then either placed to the side to die or is killed by the abortionist or nurse.

8. Chemical abortion:
a. RU-486: RU-486 blocks the hormone that helps develop the lining of the uterus during pregnancy (progesterone). This lining is the source of nutrition and protection for the developing baby. The tiny boy or girl is starved to death and then a second drug, misoprostol, causes contractions so that the dead baby is expelled from the womb.

b. Methotrexate: Highly toxic, this chemical directly attacks and breaks down the baby's fast-growing cells. It also attacks the life-support systems the baby needs to survive. When the systems fail, the baby dies. Misoprostol is then used to cause contractions and push the dead baby out of the womb.

c. Abortifacient birth control (the Pill, Depo-Provera, Norplant, the IUD, Emergency Contraception). These abortion-causing chemicals and devices can act to kill preborn children in the earliest days of life. It is well known that abortifacient methods of birth control may act to inhibit ovulation and prevent conception. However, most women don't know they also act to alter the lining of the womb so that the implantation of a newly conceived child cannot occur. If the child cannot implant in the lining of the womb to receive nourishment, he or she dies.

I bolded this last one because many people do not even know that this is how the pill works. If you are taking birth control I suggest that you read up on the type you are taking, ask your doctor how it works or look on www.rockforlife.org it has a section about contraceptives.

If you have had an abortion I thank you for reading this. I also want to tell you that your life is not over, God can and will still use you. The great thing about God is that he's a forgiving God, he's also a healing God and will help you get through. God can use you to help other women who may be thinking about abortion. We all do things wrong and to God wrong is wrong whether you lied, had an abortion, live a homosexual lifestyle, or disobeyed your parents. So do not get discouraged friend, you are forgiven and free.

To those of you who had an unwanted pregnancy and decided to let the baby live- THANK YOU. I know it took a lot and was the hard thing to do, but it was the right thing. I admire you.

So as I bring this long blog to an end I want to encourage you to take a stand. If all of us stood up and held our ground I believe this law would be reversed. As my pastor said this morning there are three things we can do Pray, Protest (peacefully) and present our faith.

Lexi

raising her eyebrows and flaring her nostrils... isn't she so tallented? Thats my girl


This is Lexi in the dress Beth and Josh got her for Christmas, it's much more cute in person, but oh well!


a whole lot of nothing

So aside from cleaning the house i haven't been doing too much- which explains my lack of posting. Yesterday i woke up early, took my shower and started cleaning the house i washed, dryed folded and put away about 4 loads of laundry, cleaned out the desk, went though a bunch of our junk and threw away 3 garbage bags full of stuff, did the dishes, made peanutbutter cookies, washed the dishes again, cleaned the kitchen, vacuumed, went through Lexi's clothes and put up what she had outgrown, changed the sheets on my bed and Lexi's crib, washed the sheets, did my hair and makeup, made supper, played with Lexi a lot... and went to church. sounds fun huh? :) well it was! Today i haven't been quite as productive, i did the dishes, cooked lunch, and well i think that's it. aside from playing with and taking care of lexi.
I should probably post some new pictures of Lexi cuz she's getting big. oh i know what ones i can post....

um.. i slacked off again

i disappeared for awhile, sorry. The holidays were good. Christmas we went over to Jim and Kathy's house and hung out. we ate a big breakfast, then nibbled on junk food all day. For New Years we did what we've been doing for 3 years now. We went up to PA to visit Eugene's friend Cory and his family. it was fun, we got to visit a lot of Eugene's old friends from up there, and a couple of his cousins (both of which are named Ashley). Lexi is 5 months old now and she still doesn't roll over. She is getting VERY close though, and she has had a breakthrough with holding herself up on her arms. Today she almost completely rolled over, but her arms got in the way.
We looked at these very nice new duplexes/townhouses today, but they are $750 a month... we only pay $405 right now, and for $750 a month we could be making house payments to OWN a house, so yah... even though they are beautiful and nice and new and pretty and have huge walk in closets in all 3 bedrooms plus a huge walk in closet under the stairs... and we couldn't afford them anyway.... we're gonna stay here a while longer i guess.
Today was Lexi's first day in cloth diapers. We have put her in them before, but never for a whole day. but today she only had 2 disposable diapers on, one when we were at church and one first thing this AM when i knew she was gonna go back to sleep for a while.
my back of hip or something is out of wack and my hip, knee and ankle are killing me.
Now I am going to see what my husband and baby are doing!

my nativity animals

This is my Cow... cute huh?
This is the cartoon donkey Eugene drew and painted

This is my cartoon sheep i drew and painted for Kidstuf





tig's job

well, the whole TN log homes thing didn't go through, i guess they decided they didn't want Eugene's boss after all! however, they are keeping Bird's Drafting (the company tig works for) very busy. His boss said that if they keep them busy then he will give Eugene a pay raise. I'm a little dissappointed, because i already had my heart set on benefits, a higher pay and most importantly... moving. LOL. I just love change SO MUCH. But really this is the better deal, because Eugene still has his freedom, he's not tied down to big company rules. And his boss kicks but. and hopefully he'll have a raise coming soon. so we can all pray for that right?
I might get personal now... maybe...
So i've been feeling crappy lately- about my role as wife/mom/housekeeper and most importantly CHRISTIAN. for some reason being married totally screwed up my personal time with God that I had down pat after 10 years or being single and four years later i still havn't gotten it back where it needs to be. Which is affecting the whole rest of my life including my closeness with Eugene. Last night I got a kick in the butt from God (he kinda used Beth's life to help) and I'm feeling motivated again to take care of 1st- my God walk, 2nd my family 3rd myself and 4th my house. Hopefully I wont get lazy again and slack off after a week. I like to see quick results with EVERYTHING, Tig says I'm impatient. Normally when i don't see my body changing after a week of exercise and diet i quit. and if my life is not changing after a week of steady devotions- i quit. and if keeping my house clean doesn't get easier and Eugene doesn't start helping after a week- yup y ou guessed it- i quit. Then two weeks or so later I start feeling crappy about everything and get motivated and do the whole thing over again.... stupid cycle. I guess that means i am not disciplined. So yah, I got personal. deal with it. :)

Head and Shoulders

the first thing that amuzed Lexi... again, the quality of the video isn't good, and she got distracted by the camera, but it's still cute.

Lexi Laughs

The first time we got Lexi Laughing on tape, i know it's not good picture, but it was the sound i wanted not the video

Thanksgiving

Well, we had a good November so far! we've celebrated Tig's birthday, my birthday, Thanksgiving and tomorrow is our anniversary! I can't believe we've been married for four years! it's flown by!! Thanksgiving was fun, we drove up to VA to visit Tig's family. we spent two nights at one of his sister's house and two nights at his other sister's house. It was so fun, but did not last long enough. Today Lexi got four shots... i feel so bad for that little girl. It's weird to me that a body as small as her can handle having four different viruses in her body at the same time- in addition to the cold that she has.
Our house is a mess from being gone for a few days then coming home and getting right back into the swing of things with Eugene working and me working mon-wed. I'm sure Thursday I'll be busy cleaning the house.
I have some exciting news about Tig's job! awhile back the head architect from TN log homes came in and asked Jeff (Eugene's boss) if they would be willing to draw up some plans for some log homes. Jeff said yes and they were working on some contract type thing, well in the mist of it they asked Jeff to come work for them and be in charge of a new department. Jeff said yes, so that means Eugene and Jeff will be working for TN log homes soon! This is exciting!! it means moving to Athens, TN- which is about 30-40 minutes away and it means a higher pay, benefits and paid vacation!!! It's awesome! Plus Eugene will still be working for the same guy. We're very excited. We're not too sure of the details like when all this will be happening, but I think it will be in the next couple months. WOO HOO! we're very excited. I love change- especially the change of a new apartment or maybe even rental house!! WOO HOO!

Colds

well, Lexi is coming down with her secnd cold. the poor girl caughs and sneezes all day long. I'm so excited for Thanksgiving! We're going to VA to visit Eugene's family- i'm looking forward to it. When we come home I am going to try to find enough money to buy a Christmas tree so we can put it up and have our house all Christmasy!!! I love decorating trees! I think we might try to buy a fake one this year, i always hated fake trees but them make them so much nicer than they used to, they actually look real now. Although we don't have $200 to get one of the really good ones, we'll probably end up with a $30 one. oh well! Lexi is asleep right now, I should be showering not posting a random blog. yah, I'll go shower.

bad news...

well, it turns out that the guy the police caught was not the same guy who broke into my neighbors house. Not even close. kinda scary that there were TWO burglars in my town yesterday! Here I thought we lived in a safe town! Anyway, the guy they caught was white, and the guy I saw yesterday was very much black. The white guy was very scary looking, I think I would have had to throw rocks at him if I saw him in my neighbors house. The black guy actually looked trust worthy. not like I would trust a complete stranger, but if I had to take my choice between trusting the guy i saw and the guy the cops caught, I would trust the guy I saw. Anyway, just pray they catch the guy!

my encounter with the thief

Yesterday morning was quite exciting here. I got up early because my friend was supposed to pick me up at 8:45 and we were going to head down to Chattanooga. Well, Lexi's eating schedule conflicted with that so we decided to wait an hour and she'd pick me up at 9:45 instead. I had this very strong feeling that God was saving us from something, I assumed it was a car accident. Around 9:20 the doorbell rang, i ignored it- something I have never done my entire life. it rang again, so I thought "well, maybe the neighbor's fiance is over there and she needs something" so, since I was nursing Lexi I yelled "who is it?" and a man's voice answered back "Do you know who owns the apartments up on the hill?" I just said "no, sorry." thinking nothing about it since people had stopped before to ask that same question. curiousity got the best of me so I looked out the window to see if I could see the guy, i couldn't but I did notice a strange car in my neighbor's driveway. I was hearing things in his apartment (we live in a duplex) so I decided to call the landlord to get my neighbor's number to see if his fiance was at his house. Well, he didn't answer his cell phone, so i left a message. a few minutes later i looked out and saw the car was gone, but i thought i was still hearing things in his apartment, i called Eugene several times and he just kept telling me "if you think someone is over there, call the cops!" but me being the very trusting person that I am just thought his fiance was there, and I didn't want to call the cops on her. My neighbor calls back and tells me that he doesn't know that car and no one should be in his apartment. This is when I started thinking "oh my gosh... i think there's someone over there!" So i decide to be brave and peak out the back door to see if i see that car. sure enough I look around the corner and there is a black guy walking out of my neighbor's house! I said "Hey, what are you doing?" (i would have just gone inside and called the cops but he was already looking at me.) he mumbled something about checking the apartment and then my motherly instincts took over and I ran inside and locked the door and called the police. Of course as I was on the phone i started realizing all the things that should have happened had I done what I normally do.... i normally answer the door, he could have attacked me and hurt me and lexi, if I hadn't answered the second time, he probably would have broken in my apartment too. And if I had left at 8:45 like I was supposed to, our apartment would have been robbed too. The scarriest thought was that on any other day I would have been in the shower at that time, which means not only would he have broken in, he could have taken Lexi. I also started thinking "oh gosh, that guy saw me, he knows where i live, what if he comes back to hurt me?!" Anyway, after telling the police everything I could my neighbor came home (i called him and told him everything) and the police showed up and my friend came over. We left for the day- i was too scared to stay in the apartment alone.
Well, last night at 11 my friend calls me, she lives a mile away. She told me that the SWAT team was all over her neighbor hood with big spot lights and everything looking for someone, and she had called her friend who is a police officer and his wife told her that some guy broke into a house down the street from her and they caught him had him in the cop car, and he broke out the window and got away so they were searching for him. They found him not too long after he got out. I'm 95% sure it was the same guy, but I missed the news this morning and I'm waiting to see what they say. My husband's boss's wife said the thief told the cops he talked to someone threw a door.... WOO HOO, i made the news. LOL.

I was playing photographer











it's been a while

okay, maybe it's been too long! it's November 12th! There hasn't been too much exciting stuff going on here, friday was Eugene's birthday. He turned 27. HAPPY BIRTHDAY TIG! Today I got a job. Mon-Wed I'll be picking up two girls from school and staying with them until their mom gets home at 6:15 or so. It's not much, but it's a little extra money which will help since Christmas is just 6 weeks away. It will help make me feel like I do something during the week too. Stacy's birthday is soon. so is mine. so is my four year anniversary. scary. Anyway, I'm going to go to bed now. night!

blow ups slide horror story

it was a dark windy evening outside the local YMCA where a small church was meeting together for a fall festival. Among the activities were games, food, fellowship and a big blow up slide. Shortly after the breaking of bread, i mean chili and hot dogs, they went inside for an annual youth vs adults basketball game. a few people stayed outside to help clean up the terrifying mess that 200 people can leave. Also remaining outside were some children enjoying their time on the slide. Suddenly it happened, i don't know if it was a cause of too many children, some rough housing, a malfunction in the tie downs or just a slight breeze... but before anyone could do anything the huge blow up slide fell over sending kids falling all over each other and one poor girl falling off the top of the 20ft slide. Luckily a doctor stood close by and ran over to check on the children. The girl who had fallen from the top of the slide suffered a broken arm, the remaining children suffered from only bumps and bruises and the scare of their life. Yes this really did happen... scarey huh?

doctor

Well, I took Lexi to have her weighed and she weighs 11lbs 4 oz now. The health department was WAY off a month ago when they told us she weighed 12lbs. oh well! she's in the 40th percentile for her weight- i'm not sure what that means though.

collection agencies

I hate people calling and asking for money. I know that it's a bill we made and we should pay it, I know God doesn't want us to have debt or owe people money but doctors and hospitals should not charge so much. I think they take advantage of the situation. 99% of the time we have no choice but to go to the doctor, we're sick or having a baby. Then even AFTER insurance we end up with $4,000 worth of medical bills. Then we have five different people calling us trying to get us to pay them and then I freak and tell the poor lady trying to get me to pay that we are living on one SMALL income and there are seventeen different places trying to get our money that we don't have. can you tell I just got off the phone with one? grrr. I wasn't a very nice person. I didn't cuss or say anything bad to her but I got very emotional and told her there was nothing I could do. She tried to get Eugene's information about where he worked and stuff and when I asked her why she needed to know that she stumbled all over herself for an answer, so that made me more mad. But I told her when we got money I'd send her some, but for now to stop calling my cell phone. I need to win the lottery or something. do you have to play the lottery to win it? I guess the odds are about the same either way huh?

sleepful nights




Well, lately Lexi has been sleeping pretty good at night! WOO HOO! I'm not sure if it's cuz she is sick or what. but I like it! She is even going to sleep in her crib without crying! Eugene is going to be home from work soon and I don't even have a thought about what to cook for supper... oops! I better go, but not without posting a picture of Lexi first....

First Cold

poor little Lexi has her first cold... she's sneezing, coughing and running a fever. :( I feel so bad for her. She had a busy weekend, her Nana, Aunt April and three of her cousins were visiting! We had a lot of fun. She took her first trip to the Ocoee River, and she was dedicated in Church on Sunday. so this is a short blog, but I have to clean the house and care for my sick little baby. All prayers are appreciated.


This one's not very good, she's kinda got her head flopped back funny, but it's the only one they took of all three of us.




She really liked the towels, The lady told me to push her legs up under her, but she refused to do that, every time I'd push her legs up she'd flatten them back out. In the first picture you can see I had just pushed her legs up and she's looking at me like "mom, I don't want them up..."


I think this is the only one where she actually looked right at the camera

Lexi's photos


I decided it would be easier to just post some of my favorite photos than to try to explain how to go look at them. Here's one of her photos

picture perfect...

Well, we took Lexi to get her pictures taken today (remember we won those two free photo sheets). I didn't think they were going to come out good because of course she was crabby and fussing, I finally just said "ok, we'll just see what happens" and we went into the room with her binky in her mouth. we got the picture all ready and pulled the binky out right as she took the pictures. Luckily we only had to do that for two pictures, then she cheered up and was just awake and alert. she refused to look at the camera or even near the camera for 99% of the pictures, she was too busy looking at all the neat things on the walls. They took a TON of poses and then sat us down and we had to chose two- or pay to buy others. Well, we're broke right now, so we went in there knowing we'd only get two. There was one problem... She is SO DARN CUTE. We had it narrowed down to four and then they told us that the picture collages are on sale for $9.99. SO... we ordered one. so we're getting the two free 8x10's and then an 8x10 that has 9 different pictures in it. it's so cute. plus, since we ordered something other than our free sheets they keep the pictures for six months so if we ever get money we'll be able to order more. OR if anyone else wants to order some they can. They post the pictures online in 48 hours, so when they do that I'll tell you how to look at them. but beware... she's cute!!!

Lexi



Here's Lexi today! so cute with her little purple cord overals on... :) someday I'll get her to smile for the camera...

who's that little girl?



Here's lexi staring at the little girl in the flower... (it's a mirror).
I forgot to mention that she was pretty much sleeping ALL day yesterday so we didn't expect her to sleep at all last night...

SHE DID IT!!!

Lexi slept from 11pm until 7am, with only a brief fussing at 5am, when I went in to check on her it was freezing cold in her room and she joined us in bed and continued sleeping!!! WOO HOO! Go Lexi!

Sleeping baby

Well, Last night Lexi only woke up once! WOO HOO! although she's been sleeping all day and only been awake for a couple hours all day, i'm starting to wonder if there is something wrong with her. Although she might just be growing, cuz that makes them tired. She's so cute, she was in her swing earlier, and there is a mirror over her head, she was staring at herself smiling. She even played a bit this morning, she was starting to get fussy so I tried to give her her binky, well she made a funny face and spit it out, so I kept taking it and rubbing her lips with it, then taking it away and saying "EWWW". she just thought that was the funniest thing and was smiling so big. I can't wait for her to laugh.


Lexi had her first drum lesson the other night, you got to start them early if you want them to be the best! I think she was a little scared of the size of the drum stick, we might have to find some mini ones.


I love the feet!!!!


At first Lexi was thrilled at the thought of having play time with her daddy, but as soon as mommy took the picture she started screaming.


Lexi likes to sleep on our bed... isn't she CUTE?!

Turtles

Well, one of my turtles were having this problem where it was basically pooping out its intestines, then they'd go back in eventually. we couldn't figure out what was causing the problem, until we put it in a tank by itself and noticed after a day that there was a ton of gravel in the bottom of the tank and we didn't put it there... Turns out they have been eating the gravel in their tank. I took out all the gravel and put him back in the big tank and watched as the other one pooped out about 15 pieces of gravel. OOPS! So word of advise for any turtle owners, don't put gravel in their tank.

oh! I forgot...

A couple weeks ago Eugene and I were walking around the mall and there was a table infront of Sears to sign up to win two free photo sheets and photo session. So me, being silly decided to sign up- I never win anything but I sign up for a lot of stuff- who doesn't want to win?! Anyway, friday night we were at a tail gate party and they called me and guess what? I WON!!! So Lexi is going to have her picture taken next Tuesday. Unfortunatly because of our lack of money we wont be able to buy any more pictures than the two sheets, so we'll probably be selfish and just get ourselves pictures and not share. HE HE... yah, I'm a winner!

She Smiles

So yesterday Lexi started focusing her smiles... Eugene and I were laying on our bed staring at her, and she looked at me so I smiled at her and told her she was beautiful and that I love her and she just got this HUGE ear to ear grin. don't get me wrong, she's been smiling for awhile now, but this was a real, planned, "hey, you're my mom" grin. Then Eugene started talking to her, so she turned her head and did the same smile for him! She did it several other times last night too... YAY! we reached a mile-stone. As soon as we get a picture of it I'll post it.

Ok, one more picture... this was Lexi this morning sitting in the bowl chair waiting for mommy and daddy to be ready for church like she was...


Lexi and I were taking a nap.. can you tell? notice the smirk on her face... and Yes... she's laying on her belly I know it's bad....

i feel like a slacker

I was reading Beth's blog and man, she posts a lot!!! it made me feel like a total slacker. Not only does she post a lot, she also keeps up with current events and post intelectual things about them, I can't even spell intellectual let alone write about it... anyway, So i decided to take three minutes while Lexi is still sleeping and blog. But I don't have anything exciting going on like camping at Yellowstone, or my baby being in a wedding, or being pregnant. nope, nothing too exciting. Lexi got four shots the other day and they told us she weighs 12lbs now, but I don't know if that's true or not because my friend's baby weighs 12lbs 8 oz and she feels a lot heavier than Lexi.
Yup, man, I need a life... All I do is feed the baby and clean the house. Thursday I went to a church play date where all the stay at home mothers bring their kids to the park to play (which by the way Beth, is every week and I just didn't know it...) So my friend Laura picked Lexi and I up and we went to the park. Then we went to the court house where she got a new "tag" (lisence plate) for her car. Then Lexi and I went over to their house. We found out Lexi is allergic to cats, atleast I think because her eyes got red and puffy while we were there.
For the last few nights Lexi has successfully slept in her crib, with only a few minutes of crying when we first put her down, and an occasional cry after night feedings. (She's still up every three hours to eat) We're also working on a schedule... she goes to bed every night between 9:30 and 10. that's as far as we've gotten with a schedule.
So, she's starting to stir which means she'll wake up and want to eat, so I'll go after I post a new picture...

sorry


Ok, so Blogger messes up every time I try to post a picture... here is a recent one of Lexi, taken Wednesday. enjoy!!