My Ebenezer

Yesterday we celebrated Josh's last birthday in his twenties. :) :( He is dogmatic that he wasn't celebrating another year older, but rather another year of life and opportunity. (Rolls eyes) Whatever you want to call it, Josh is now 29 and we had SO MUCH FUN! The Party's HERE! The decorations Me with a plateful of hamburgers and hot dogs He almost blew them out in one breath! The guests. Left to right: Will Martin, Mr. Bundy, (the back of) Matt, Mrs. Bundy, me, Noah, Josh, Dave Wright. A special THANK YOU goes to Jen, the photographer. My camera is sadly powerless right now, as silly me left its charger in Connecticut and just discovered it was missing this week. As far as I know, it's in the mail and I should be back to my picture-taking self (ha!) once it has been properly charged. (I just realized Jen isn't in any of the pictures! Maybe I'll go back and find one of her that I can add!)

I thought I'd record what life is like with Noah these days, at 18 months old. We are SO close to potty-training. He's ready, I just have no clue how to go about it. What I'm doing isn't working very well. He's not very motivated by M&Ms, which apparently was the ticket when I was potty-training. I've got a couple books on hold at the library and once they're ready I'll pick them up and get reading. The sooner we're out of diapers, the better. Noah has started putting 2-word phrases together, and by far our favorite is "Bye-bye, Daddy!" which he says when Josh goes to work or when Noah is going to bed. If that doesn't melt your heart, I don't know what will. :) If I can ever get it on video I'll have to post it. He definitely has a will of his own, and is a great lesson for me in The Sin Nature of Man. Sometimes I have to think, "Who teaches these kids this behavior?" and the resounding answer is, "Nobody. It ...

Some ladies at church have formed a little group to keep each other motivated to exercise. We're calling it the 10-Pound Challenge (though some of us aren't trying to lose any weight and others would like to lose more). It lasts five weeks and you have to pay $5 to the "pot" to join. You have to exercise 30 mins at least 5 times per week. You have to pay a dollar to the "pot" every time you miss a day out of the five for exercise. At the end of the five weeks, whoever has lost the largest percentage of body weight and inches gets the money from the "pot" to buy new clothes! :) I joined simply because I need motivation to keep on exercising. 6am rolls around mighty early every morning, and in the pitch darkness of the room (I find it so much easier to get up when it's light outside, don't you?) under the warm covers of my bed it is SO EASY to tell myself to go back to sleep for an extra hour rather than get up and exercise. BUT if I h...

I love weekends! They are the time when I can reconnect with my husband after a long work week, when we can spend time as a family, and get some rest and fun in. Here's what we did this weekend: We went to the zoo: It was cloudy, but I didn't think it was this cloudy! The zoo abuts the Trout River, which you can see in the background. I love the giraffes! Noah was afraid to touch these elephants at first. He thought they were alive! He always takes time to smell the flowers! We went to Lowe's. As in the home improvement store! You'd have to know Josh to understand why that is so much fun (though I do know him and I'm still trying to figure out why that's fun!). Noah loved that they had actual tools on display at his level. What were they thinking? Noah wanted to push the cart. Today we went to church, but I didn't get any pictures of that. I'm looking forward to hearing a message tonight, since I taught my Sunday School class then had nursery ...

Truth Baptist Church of Jacksonville met again on Wed night for a time of Bible study. All 7 of us were in attendance and we actually got pictures this time! I believe if you click on the picture you can see it bigger. We began with some hymn singing, which was a blessing. Jen played the piano and we all sang. Noah even joined in the singing, which was adorable and heart-warming even if he was off-key. :) I love hearing him sing! Matt led the Bible study, which I did not hear since I had nursery duty. The lesson was on the power of the gospel. Matt and Jen are headed to Greenville, SC this weekend to present the ministry to their "home church" there, Agnew Road Baptist Church. We're praying that goes well and that if it's the Lord's will, they will be taken on for support there.

I had to post this recipe! I made these cookies a few days ago and they just keep jumping into my mouth. :) 2 1/2 sticks butter, softened 2 C Sugar 2 Eggs 2 tsp Vanilla Extract 2 C flour 3/4 C Cocoa 1 tsp salt 1 tsp baking soda 10 oz pkg peanut butter chips OR butterscotch chips Heat oven to 350. In large bowl, beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs and vanilla; beat well. Stir together flour, cocoa, baking soda, and salt. Gradually add to butter mixture, beating until well-blended. Stir in chips. Drop by rounded tsp onto cookie sheet. Bake 8-9 mins. Cookies will be soft. Cool completely on cookie sheet. Makes 4 1/2 dozen cookies. My recommendation is to mix up a batch and keep them in your fridge and just bake a dozen here and there as you run out (ie: every day!). These are soooo good.

Last week I was kind of smirking to myself that my fellow Floridians thought it was cold. "Pah!" I said to myself, "I'd like to see how they do in actual freezing temperatures." I got my wish. Today, for the first time ever in close to 5 years of living here, I saw icicles. ICICLES! IN FLORIDA! The funny part is, they were not from some massive ice storm. No, they were from some subdivision watering their landscaping and then the water froze on the grass and trees in that one section of land. What's my point? It's actually freezing out there, folks! Well maybe not right this minute~I think it's 40 or something. But this morning? Freezing. Noah and I went to the park today after running some errands, and it was like a ghost town. Normally there'd be at least half a dozen kids running around, and some people walking their dogs or jogging, but not today. Today, I think the dog owners in this city are wishing their dogs were potty-trained and the ex...

This is the first year in the history of Inaugurations that I have been able to watch it on TV. Well, let's use the word "watch" loosely here, because today I was fixing lunch, eating lunch, and trying to entertain Noah while it was going on. I was surprised that they inaugurated the Vice President before the President--I would have thought it would be the other way around! My only other thought about this monumental occasion is that we should all pray as we never have before for Barack Obama. He's not who I would have chosen for this job, but he's the one who got it, and the Bible tells us we are to pray for those in authority over us. Pastor Masitto keeps pointing out that if a guy like Nebuchadnezzar (from the book of Daniel) could be saved, so could this man if it would be the Lord's will. We can certainly cover the government with our prayers, and trust that "the heart of the king is in the Lord's hand".

Today's Photo Challenge: Turn off your flash and see what wonderful results you get. I didn't even know I had the option of turning it off! (Should I admit that?) Today's Subject: Noah taking a nap on his faithful pal, Puppy Dog. How do I know this dog is so faithful? Look at him. He'd have to be to allow this! Not to mention the fact that he was my faithful pal and lasted through an entire childhood of me lying on him too. :)

Today we went to the zoo to purchase a membership and walk around a bit. Since there was a Special on the train ride today ($1 vs. the normal $4), we decided to ride the train around the zoo. We saw quite a few animals, but I think Noah liked the train best. The zoo wasn't quite the same without Carrie and her boys showing us around! This tree was in full bloom. I thought those of you enduring sub-zero temperatures would enjoy seeing something with flowers. :) Standing on the alligator at the entrance to the Florida Loop. Riding the train All Aboard! I'm still learning about my camera and what will/won't make a good picture. Full sun is tricky, and so is sun mixed with shade. Good thing this camera is digital and it doesn't matter how many pictures you take, since they can be deleted so easily.

How's that for a title? Very creative, I know. Let me know if you ever need me to come up with a witticism for you. Totally kidding here! :) Matt and Jen went out on their monthly Date Night, so we got a chance to have Brianne over for the evening. What fun! They don't really play with each other, just near each other. Hopefully that will change. Bathtime! This cracks me up. Brianne dive-bombed a rubber duck! Who knows what Noah is doing. :) So cheesy, this kid! She really, really wanted my camera. So the whole evening went well. Josh helped out, which was unexpected and wonderful. :) After her bath, Brianne was crying (I think she got cold) and I gave her to Josh while I finished up with Noah. Once we got her warmed up, she was fine. She is such a sweetheart, and we look forward to next month when we get her again for an evening. Oh, and we're so looking forward to our own date night to take place later this month! Somehow I think Matt and Jen are get...

Are you familiar with the Digital Macro setting on your camera? I discovered it shortly after I got my camera and thought, "Oh, how nice! A setting for flowers!" But THEN!!! I played around with it some and found out it's for so much more than flowers! Check out the fun shots I got today of Noah while he was playing with his tool bench: Incidentally, Josh makes the SAME FACE when he's deep in concentration, working on something with his hands. Not that these are terribly good pictures by any stretch of the imagination. But they're fun, and to me, that's what counts. :)

Jen and I took the kids to Sam's Club today to compare prices and buy some stuff. Noah and Brianne got to sit in the cart together for some cousin bonding time! Check it out. :) Noah had been giving Brianne a hug and I missed it by a second or two. Awwwww. This was when we first went in. Brianne was a little tipsy in the seat at first! :)

We enjoyed the most beautiful day yesterday, which turned into a beautiful evening. We decided to spend some family time together and go to a different park close-ish to our home. It definitely didn't offer as many activities as our old favorite, but it was still fun! Here's our family playing on the slides. So excited to slide down the big slide Josh gave the twisty slide a try So did Noah. I think he was waving at me, which explains the blurry hand Noah was dismounting the slide, which is why he is blurry, but I still like the expression on his face enough to use the picture. Below (I hope) is a video of me and Noah riding the slide together. I haven't seen this video yet, so it will be a surprise for me too. I do remember that I fell off the slide at the bottom, and I don't know if Josh captured the full glory of that or not. I guess we'll have to see! :) On a "real life" note, lately I've been struggling a bit with my temper where Noah is...

Last night we held our first official meeting! Sadly, no one took a picture, but hopefully soon we can get a good one of the 7 of us. Number in Attendance: 7. Pastor Matt (is that what we should call you or do you prefer Pastor Rowley?), Jen, Will Martin, Josh, myself, and the two little tykes Noah and Brianne. Place of meeting: Matt and Jen's "house" Purpose of meeting: Bible study and prayer We all gathered at Matt and Jen's for dinner and then had a short Bible study time, talking mainly about 1 Tim 1, among other passages. We looked at Paul's admonition to Timothy and the "grace, mercy, and peace" from God that he could enjoy. Jen was a trooper and took nursery after it became apparent that our kids weren't going to be still and quiet. :) After this we had a time of prayer, with all the adults taking turns praying. Jen came back for prayer time and we were able to pray with relatively little distraction from Noah which was a blessing! I think we ...

I've been sitting here for about 10 minutes trying to come up with something blogworthy enough to write. And the silly thing is, all day long I've been looking forward to sitting down to blog, so you'd think I could come up with something . Hmmm...... The weather has been beautiful. Noah took a really long nap today. I took my car to a Car Wash for the first time ever and it was one of the best $5 I've spent. :) Okay, well I should probably quit there before you all start snoring! Sorry I don't have something more interesting folks. Hey, at least there's a cute picture to look at! :) Good night.

This morning I left Noah with Jen so I could get a much-needed haircut. Here's how it turned out! Thanks, Jen, for watching Noah!!

On his new slide given to us by the Bennetts Check out the detail on this stuffed dog! Playing Peek-A-Boo (or as Noah pronounces it, "Book-Oh-Bah") Noah's cousin Brianne, 6 months old. Looks just like her daddy! In between putting away the Christmas decorations, organizing the house, running errands, writing thank-yous, laundry, and spending time with Matt, Jen, and Brianne, I've been testing out my camera's functions. I am more than impressed with what this thing can do! Above is a sampling. I really need to make blogging more of a priority. Already we're six days into the New Year and I have barely documented anything! Instead, I think I've been bit by an Organizational Bug, which has motivated me to clean and find places for everything. But, like the rest of you, I only have so many hours in the day. So hopefully all my work will pay off and I'll be able to devote time to blog every day. Or at least every other day! P.S. Somethin...