Halloween 09

I always think that it will be so fun to dress up every year especially since Aven is still little and I can still get away with a family theme. I always think that until the day of Halloween comes and I realize how stupid I turn out looking. At least I can look back and know I did it all for the sake of my kids and to make it fun for them. :)

Here is the Cave family and their baby Dinosaur.

Aven and Aunt Brenda...Two babies

We got to see a firework show at the church which if you can't tell by the look on Aven's face he loved it!

Aven had alot of fun eating candy and helping Mommy eat all the food she had to get :)

27 Weeks

Sorry haven't updated much lately. My father in law is in from out of town this week so we've been pretty busy. I started working part time from home which I am liking alot more. I've found I can get alot more done around the house. Today I am 27 weeks pregnant. I can't believe how fast time is flying by. I'm hoping to get some maternity pictures with my face actually in the picture but the way I look today I am sparing you.

27 Weeks Pregnant

I even had enough spare time to try out some sewing. I've been saying since I found out I was having a girl I needed to learn to sew and start making her stuff. This is my attempt at making a dress. It's not all that great but I'm learning. I might actually start getting better in time to make her prom dress. HA yeah right.

Thinking of having kids??

Do This 10 Step Program First

Lesson 1

Before you finally go ahead and have children, find a couple who already are parents and berate them about their...

1. Methods of discipline
2. Lack of patience
3. Appallingly low tolerance levels
4. Allowing their children to run wild
5. Suggest ways in which they might improve their child's breastfeeding, sleep habits, toilet training, table manners, and overall behavior.
Enjoy it because it will be the last time in your life you will have all the answers.

Lesson 2

A really good way to discover how the nights might feel...

1. Get home from work and immediately begin walking around the living room from 5pm to 10pm carrying a wet bag weighing approx. 8-12 pounds, with a radio turned to static (or some other obnoxious sound) playing loudly.
2. At 10pm, put the bag down gently, set the alarm for midnight, and go to sleep.
3. Get up at midnight and walk around the living room again, with the bag, until 1am.
4. Set alarm for 3am.
5. As you can't get back to sleep, get up at 2am and watch an infomercial.
6. Go to bed at 2:45.
7. Get up at 3am when alarm goes off.
8. Sing songs quietly in the dark until 4am.
9. Get up. Make breakfast. Get ready for work and go to work (work hard and be productive.)
Repeat steps 1-9 each night. Keep this up for 3-5 years. Look cheerful and together.

Lesson 3

Can you stand the mess children make? To find out...

1. Smear peanut butter onto the sofa and jam onto the curtains.
2. Hide a piece of raw chicken behind the stereo and leave it there all summer.
3. Stick your fingers in the flower bed.
4. Then rub them on the clean walls.
5. Take your favorite book, photo album, etc. Wreck it.
6. Spill milk on your new pillows. Cover the stains with crayons. How does that look?

Lesson 4

Dressing small children is not as easy as it seems.

1. Buy an octopus and a small bag made out of loose mesh.
2. Attempt to put the octopus in the bag so that none of the arms hang out.
Time allowed for this- all morning.

Lesson 5

Forget the BMW and buy a mini-van. And don't think that you can leave it out in the driveway spotless and shining. Family cars don't look like that.

1. Buy a chocolate ice cream cone and put it in the glove compartment. Leave it there.
2. Get a dime. Stick it in the CD player.
3. Take a family size package of chocolate cookies. Mash them into the back seat. Sprinkle Cheerios all over the floor, them smash them with your foot.
4. Run a garden rake along both sides of the car.

Lesson 6

Go to the grocery store. Take the closest thing you can find to a pre-school child. (A full-grown goat is an excellent choice). If you intend to have more than one child, then definitely take more than one goat. Buy your week's groceries without letting the goats out of your sight. Pay for everything the goats eat or destroy. Until you can easily accomplish this, do not even contemplate having children.

Lesson 7

1. Hollow out a melon.
2. Make a small hole in the side.
3. Suspend it from the ceiling and swing it from side to side.
4. Now get a bowl of soggy Cheerios and attempt to spoon them into the swaying melon by pretending to be an airplane.
5. Continue until half the Cheerios are gone.
6. Tip half into your lap. The other half, just throw up in the air.
You are now ready to feed a 9 month-old baby.

Lesson 8

Learn the names of every character from all shows on PBS, the Disney Channel and Noggin. Watch nothing else on TV but shows from these channels for at least 5 years. (I know, you're thinking "what is Noggin?") Exactly the point.

Lesson 9

Make a recording of Fran Drescher saying 'mommy' repeatedly. (Important: no more than a four second delay between each 'mommy'; occasional crescendo to the level of supersonic jet is required). Play this tape in your car everywhere you go for the next four years. You are now ready to take a long trip with a toddler.

Lesson 10

Start talking to an adult of your choice. Have someone else continually tug on your skirt hem, shirt sleeve, or elbow while playing the 'mommy' tape made from lesson 9 above. You are now ready to have a conversation with an adult while there is a child in the room.

But somehow at the end of the day a smile and a peanut buttery messy kiss makes it all worth it!

Cute for a Cause

My friend Heather who I oddly enough know from babycenter.com. I got to know her when I was pregnant with Aven. She has the cutest little girl named Brynlee who is Aven's age. She is such a sweet girl. We seem to have alot in common. Not only is her daughter the same age as Aven but her husband is also a Marine :)

She started a company called http://www.cuteforacause.org. I ordered some stuff for Berlyn/Alexa/or whatever her name is going to be from her. ha She does such an awesome job with the quality of all her stuff and it's cheap too! If you have a little girl or know a little girl head on over and take a look.

Here are just a few of the things I got in the mail for our little girl the other day. So excited!!

I tried to get a picture of Aven wearing one of the bows to show you all what our future daughter might look like but he wanted none of it and ripped it out right away. I guess I am happy about that :)

Crib Bedding

I'm so excited I've made my first big purchase for the baby today! I had been looking ALL over for bedding to match the colors I'm doing her room in and have had the hardest time. Today I found the perfect one! Lets just hope that it is still a girl or he will have a really cute room. ha It's finally starting to hit me that we will have another baby in about 14 more weeks!!! Better get hot on finishing the room.

Names..Please Vote

Well I found a couple names that I like but would like your input. I have added a poll ---> to the side of my blog with the two names that I like. You might not like them cause I tend to have a weird taste. I am still open for suggestions if you simply hate both of those names :)

Why?

”Trust in the LORD with all your heart

and lean not on your own understanding;

in all your ways acknowledge Him,

and He will make your paths straight”

Proverbs 3:5-6

It's so hard sometimes to understand why bad things happen to good people. The past few months have been pretty hard. I have at times questioned why God would chose for certain people to go through things or bear the burden of so much at one time. The past few months have brought some horrible news from a few of our loved ones. I haven't said much cause I really didn't know what to say or how to say it. I am not a good writer by any means but if you know me well enough I do have a big heart and I tend to let things bother me emotionally. I hate to see anyone hurting or in pain. I remember as a kid we would be driving somewhere and if I happened to see an animal dead in the road I would cry and feel so bad. Although I don't cry anymore when I see an animal dead in the street, that still child like heart comes out when I hear or see bad things happening and I have a hard time dealing. I feel like I need to be there and try and fix everything . I guess I got that from my Mothers side of the family.

What do you say to a family going through so much all at one time. Why would God chose this family to go through so much and not me? Why would he allow me to have a healthy baby, and yet not someone else? Why would he chose for my husbands father to have cancer and not mine? I don't have the answer for these tuff questions.

I do know that God allows things to happen for HIS reasons, whether or not we understand them. Above all, however, we must remember that God is good, just, loving and merciful. Often things happen to us that we simply can't and understand. Instead of doubting God's goodness, our reaction should be to trust him. Not just say you trust him but REALLY trust him. I think alot of times when your not the one going through trials it's pretty easy to say that you trust God, but when your the one in despair and your world is rocked it's alot easier to doubt that trust.

After this week I remembered a video that I saw about a year ago that really made me think and really encouraged me. Although I have never had to go through anything like this in my life it was very uplifting to watch. I'm sure some of you are familiar with this story and may have already seen this video. For anyone who hasn't I recommend watching it.

It is long, but I recommend taking the time to watch it. It will cause you to live differently. You will hug your kids differently. You will love your spouse differently. You will trust God differently.

Smith Family Story from Cross Point Church on Vimeo.

To read more about their story you can visit Angie's blog here.

I would like to ask you to pray for me. Pray for our friends who are going through so much and for the long journey ahead. Pray for them to find the strength to get through this bump in their lives. Pray for them and their child to have peace and a fighting spirit. If God was able to create this child he is also able to heal this child.

Please also pray for my father in law who is also battling. Please pray that when he goes back in December for his results that we get good news.

Thanks to all of you who actually read down this far :)