Things that make you go HMMMMMMM.......

Maddie loves to run around naked. I don't know why, but she just feels "free" I guess. When she was younger I wouldn't fret over it, cute little baby tush running around, not a big deal to me. Now that she is getting older I'm thinking geez, is she going to be part of a nudist colony one day? LOL!!!! Of course Daddy WIGS OUT when she starts to strip down, gives her the speech about how he doesn't want to see her running around like that and she just looks at him like what is the big deal? The other thing she has recently started with me at nap time is she strips down to just her undies and lays down. Huh? What is the fascination? Its not like she sees us doing that. I know she doesn't try to strip down at the sitters but I have this vision of her first day of school at nap time (yes, she will get naps because it is full day kindergarten) trying to strip down and the teacher calling me "Mrs. Richmond, why does your daughter feel like she needs to get naked in order to take a nap?" LOL! Oy. What a character we have on our hands.

Speaking of the Diva, she has been pretty well mannered the last few days. Temper tantrums to the minimum, listening well, over all very tolerable. We've been playing kids boggle with her to get her better at recognizing letters and such. She does really well at matching letters up, just wish her attention span lasted longer than 15 minutes. I've also been trying to work with her on writing her name. That is pretty much a no go. She doesn't want to do it and that is that..stubborn!

Hope everyone stays safe, the snow storm has started, it looks really nasty out and I am NOT looking forward to work in the morning!

Love and Blessings!

For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any value. The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love.

Galatians 5:6

Its Monday!

Hope everyone had a great weekend! It was my weekend to work so nothing exciting. It was a quiet weekend at work though, that's always good right? ;0)

The beginning of a new week, what does everyone have planned?

I am off tomorrow (praise!) I have a few errands to take care of but other than that I just want to do some serious vegging.

Johnny ordered his cap and gown today (praise!) every day we get closer to graduation it gets more exciting for me!

Other than that there is nothing big planned for the week, I need to do some SERIOUS house cleaning.....good thing we don't usually get drop in visitors, they would go into a state of shock to see the mess here, LOL. Although, anyone is welcome to come over but just remember, you have been warned! :0P

We are expecting a snow storm tonight and tomorrow they are saying snow and ice, eek! Let's hope not!

Have a great week all!
Love and blessings!

By faith Abraham, even though he was past age -- and Sarah herself was barren -- was enabled to become a father because he considered him faithful who had made the promise.

Hebrews 11:11

Happy Monday!

Hope everyone stays warm!

The weekend is coming to an end, hopefully everyone had a nice relaxing weekend. Tomorrow is back to work.....oh glorious Monday! Hopefully I will get the van back tomorrow, our loaner is nice but its also SMALL and I'm used to the van.

I finally let Maddie go out yesterday for a little bit because I was SOOOOO tired of listening to her beg. I know it was really cold out but I just bundled her up and let her go, figured I could at least get a few pics. LOL, call it the scrapper in me, just couldn't pass it up.





Other than that nothing exciting for us this weekend, I actually made it to church today, yay me! I really felt the "pull" to go and it felt really good to go. I have really been slacking on it because I just don't have the energy half the time but it was time to quit making excuses and just go. Besides, Maddie LOVES going! The message at service really spoke to me, and there was an awesome suggestion. Pastor suggested to keep a spritual or grateful journal and list praises no matter how small the praise and when you are having a rough patch you can pick up your journal and read what you have had to be thankful for in the past. Isn't that awesome? I know with me sometimes I get so down on everything bad that is happening that I forget all of the little good things that has happened in my life. So I guess for the more pessimist people like me in the world this would be a great idea.

Have a great night!
Love and Blessings

If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!

2 Corinthians 5:17

BRRRRRR!!!!!!!

Last night it got down to -8 with a -25 windchill!!! Right now it has finally WARMED up to a WHOPPING -3.6 degrees! They say this is the coldest day in Columbus in 20 years or so, crazy! Neither one of the cars will start, Johnny had mentioned earlier in the week he thought his car was starting hard and wanted to have his battery checked, and the van is a different story, I had a little bit of a problem getting it started the last few days and called the dealer to let them know I thought that battery was acting up and so low and behold the van wouldn't turn over at all. I ended up calling the dealer and they are towing it to the dealer and giving us a loaner until they can get to testing the battery or whatever they need to do. What a mess. Frigid cold and we are stranded, no going to work for Johnny, bad enough he can only work one day a week with his new school schedule and this was the day. He can make it up on Monday but still, I can't take the STRESS people!

Ok, so while we are stuck in the house, which although I don't want to I really do need to go out later for a few essentials....but in the meantime I have done some LIGHT cleaning and plan on doing some scrapping.

Last night Maddie was enjoying playing with her guitar, singing a song from her Barbie movie. She kept repeating, "2 voices 1 song"

What a character!

Stay warm everyone!
Pride only breeds quarrels, but wisdom is found in those who take advice.

Proverbs 13:10

Holy Snow!

We are getting slammed! We have had at least 4 inches of snow dumped on us since this morning and last time I looked it was still coming down! I got home late tonight so I didn't get any pics but tomorrow I am hoping that when Maddie and I get home she can play for a bit and I can get some snow pics. :0)

Hope all is well with everyone else!

Hugs and smiles.

This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. If we claim to have fellowship with him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.

1 John 1:5-7

School update:

Today Maddie and I toured another branch of the school we have been looking at and I LOVED it! This is going to be so good for Maddie if she is accepted. They teach reading with phonics, bible verses every week, starting the day off with prayer and fellowship, how great would that be? Again, I'm not knocking public schools, we are in a good district so that isn't why we are chosing the private school option but its the daycare snafu that makes private school the better choice right now. So, after the tour today I decided we are going to go for it. We got Maddie's birth certificate in the mail today, thursday she is going for her boosters and Friday I am going to take the application in. Open enrollment starts in February and it is first come first serve so if she makes it they will be calling us to set up a time for testing and I think that they tell you pretty much on the spot if you are accepted or not. Keep the prayers coming!

Johnny goes for the interview with the headhunter tomorrow so keep him in your thoughts as well.

American Idol starts tonight! Yay! Love watching these first few weeks with the good, horrible and hilarious! LOL

I haven't done much in the scrapping world lately, I need to get back on track. Today was my day off but it sure didn't feel like it. I'm exhausted and I didn't really do anything!

Much Love!

"Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you."

Matthew 7:7

More prayer requests.....

Today Maddie and I toured a private christian school. Why a private school? Well, fact of life is that both of us have to work, we both work dayshift and my work day starts at 6:45. We aren't sure when John will start work because he doesnt have a full time job yet, hopefully everything will work out and he will get something soon after graduation but until than I have to focus more on my work schedule. I called around to find a daycare setting that will allow me to drop Maddie off, they would get her to school, pick her up and keep her until I can get there. The cost is outrageous. So, I checked into private schools which was always something we had been interested in from before the time she was born. Works out that the school we are looking at has all day kindergarted and has before and after school care, you can drop your child off as early as 6am and pick them up as late as 6pm. That is perfect, exactly what we need, and the fact that she would be in a private school is even better. So, we toured today, overall I really enjoyed it, we got to even go in classrooms while they were in session and observe. There is an application, application fee, testing for Maddie and interview process for us ...they lead you to beleive that spots fill up fast so I need to get it in gear. Open enrollment for newbies starts in feb and its first come first serve so the sooner I get in the application the better chances we have, and they told us what the kids get tested on so I think I can have Maddie set for that. I'm going to continue to pray that this is where God intends for us to go and this is the right path for Maddie. If its meant to work out than I know doors will be opened, and if it wasn't meant to work out I have to trust that God will open other options for us. This has always been the thing I was dreading the most....when we found our sitter my prayers were answered and that just kinda fell into our lap but for the last year I have been stressing over the school thing. I'm hoping for the same situation,things will just kinda happen and we will be led to where we need to be.

Ok, enough of the school stuff, I'm starting to stress myself out, lol.

The other thing is that Johnny is going to have an interview with another head hunter/recruiter next wednesday. She said that the companies she is hiring for would probably be willing to hold out until graduation (after all, it is March 1st!LOL) and they are local companies so prayers would be much appreciated that things work out for Johnny to find a job and if we get to stay put that would be a bonus. I know that if we need to move than it won't be a choice BUT.......here's my selfishness again......I would love to be able to stay here, I don't want to have to stress over finding a new job, new place to live, new friends, whatever. I'm not very good with change, can you guess? LOL. Again, I have to put all my faith in God and know that its in His will as to where we will be but I can pray that it works out anyways right?

Today was an off day, didn't feel like an off day with way to much to do, I didn't even take a nap! LOL, that's pretty bad, anyone who knows me knows that I love to take a nap on my days off. =0) I'm hoping tomorrow isn't as hectic. Tonight I started organizing and tinkering in my scrap area so now that is a disaster and I will have to finish that up tomorrow. Not to mention pick up in the basement, do some laundry, finish putting the tree away, clean the dining room, clean the kitchen, pick up the spare bedroom, ugh, yeah, not happening. LOL.

Love and blessings!

Therefore, get rid of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent and humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save you.

James 1:21

Random thoughts and saying a few prayers......

Yesterday Maddie's babysitter updated me to let me know that when she went for a colonoscopy before christmas it came back with some suspicous looking cells. Her doctor is sending the films off to a specialist at cleveland clinic to determine if it is just scar tissue from her chrone's disease or if they are precancerous. If they are precancerous she will have to have surgery and will be off for 4 weeks. I am praying that it will only be scar tissue because I care about her health, she has alot going on, both of her children are getting married,one in May and the other in August so she really doesn't want to have to worry about that right now and she can't really afford the loss of income for 4 weeks. So for that I hope everything works out. For my own selfish reasons I hope everything works out too because I have no idea what I will do with Maddie. I know, its selfish, but I have to plan too.

Next......these last few weeks until Johnny graduates is going to be really rough. His classes are jam packed all day, his hours will be next to nothing and I am already feeling the stress. Everyone keep us in your prayers that we survive ....I'm sure we will, its all in God's will but the stress is really getting to me. Another thing to add is that Johnny finds a job soon after graduation if not before ......I'm not asking for alot, just for our needs to be meet, hopefully the needs I want to be met isn't too much, lol.

One thing that I have learned in the last 4 years with Johnny being in school, I have had to rely on God alot, I feel like my faith has gotten stronger. I have definetly learned to just turn everything over to God and let him take control. If it is meant to be its meant to be, if we are meant to be in the house we will..things like that. I've learned to rely on friends to complain and cry to. I've learned that you don't need alot of material things to be happy, just the basics are great to have. I think that everyone goes through things for a reason, so I am hoping that with what we have been through in the last 4 years we have a nice reward coming. I don't want to be greedy, but you can get what I am trying to say.

So for those of you reading, all I ask is keep us in your prayers. =0) It would be much appreciated.

I'll leave you with a pic......



Love and Blessings

He mocks proud mockers but gives grace to the humble.

Proverbs 3:34

Did everyone has a nice relaxing weekend? The only thing we did was some team housework on Saturday but it already needs to be done again I think, hehe. Other than that we all just relaxed. I did some sleeping and some scrapping. I was off all last week so tomorrow is my first day back to work and I think I actually feel ready to go back. This was a good vacation, seemed to go on for a long time, I'm not sure how that works, sometimes it feels like it goes so quick and others it goes at a nice rate. Crazy Ohio weather here, today its raining and almost feels like spring. I don't get it.



Here are a few lo's for your enjoyment,lol...





Maddie has been a winey wine all weekend, very tempermental and trying. Yesterday she almost became a permanent fixture of the bottom step. Today she hasn't been too bad --I guess-- but I think the fact that I get to take her to the sitter makes me look forward to going to work tomorrow, LOL....sorry, have to be honest.

Have a great Monday!

Love and Blessings

But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect.

1 Peter 3:15