Splash for a Cause...

Sunday - Van breaks down on the side of the highway with daddy and the kids

Monday - One day (and a lot of money!) later...the van gets fixed.

Tuesday - The best day this week!

Wednesday - Child #1 wakes up with stomach bug at 4 am - no school for him

Thursday - Mommy, Daddy and child #2 catch the stomach bug...BAD!

Friday - A day at home to recover for the above patients

Saturday - Child #3 wakes up with stomach bug; daddy stays home while mommy goes to her workshop; after workshop, mommy and daddy switch places so daddy can go to work; while he is gone, child #2 can't sleep because of...yup, you guessed it...the stomach bug! (Are you sensing a theme yet?) After changing the sheets 3 times within 30 minutes, child #2 finally sleeps on the couch with mommy until 11 pm then they both sleep for the night...sort of...

Sunday - Children #1 and #2 awake for the day at 4:30 am! Mommy sneaks off to sleep in child #2's bed while the boys play downstairs. (Yes, they looked for me but Dave wouldn't tell them where I was...thank you Dave!) After a crazy morning of getting a couple of cranky boys out the door (I wonder why they were so cranky...hmmm....), we have a great time visiting some friends at their church and get together for lunch afterwards while the kids played together. We leave at a decent time to get home for dinner and bed when low and behold we run out of gas on the side of the highway (with 3 tired, hungry and cranky kids!) about 5-10 minutes from our house. Why would we run out of gas you ask? Because it seems as though when the van got "fixed", it didn't get put back together correctly...GREAT! Back to shop on Monday...

As I was in the shower tonight thinking about what a crazy and very tiring week it has been here, I was reminded of what God was working in my life...JOY. Just when God gets a hold of an area of our life, adversity stares us down. But what are we going to do with it is the question? Did I lose my joy this morning due to 20 loads of "sick" laundry, lack of sleep, chaos and cabin fever? Absolutely. But does He promise to forgive me? Absolutely. Can I start fresh tomorrow with another day he has given me filled with His promises? Absolutely. Just as I heard in the sermon today, we need to live in such a way that God is going to keep His promises because he does...

With all that said, I did say that Tuesday was the best day of the week, right? A indoor waterpark in our area was hosting a "Splash for a Cause" event for Haiti. For a $5 donation, you got to go to the waterpark for FREE! The kids had a blast and thought it was so funny to be in their bathing suits in January! We had a lot of fun and were happy to support Haiti in the process.

The Libbys cruising down the Lazy River.

Siah can never get enough of these water shoot-up thingys. He hung around them the whole time we were there!!!

Hannah took awhile to warm up to the water (surprisingly) but when she did, it was all smiles!

My little fishy.



Hannah liked walking off the edge of the pool like it was no big deal and Caleb could not get enough of going down this slide!

"Be joyful ALWAYS;" I Thess. 5:16

"Satisfy us in the morning with your unfailing love, that we may sing for JOY and be glad all our days". Psalm 90:14

Last month, my brother preached a message on the fruits of the spirit and he is always so creative with his messages. He held up a clementine as he preached and on the way out of the service we were all given a clementine to take home and we were to write on the clementine which fruit we felt God wanted us to cultivate in our lives. Granted, I need 9 clementines to cover them all but I felt God was convicting me specifically in the areas of gentleness and patience. But as the days and weeks went by I realized that I needed more joy in my life. Don't get me wrong, I consider myself a happy person and I like to have fun and smile but I'm learning that joy and happiness are 2 different things. Just because you are happy and smiling doesn't mean you always have joy! And the hardest part...we are told in the Bible to be joyful ALWAYS...not when we feel like it or when it's convenient or only after 7 am!
Well, over the past week or so, God has been working on my heart and when he gets a hold of me, I look up every verse I can on the subject and surround myself with it trying to get that word in my heart. I realize that I struggle most in the morning with the kids. Mainly because they wake up around 5:30 am with more joy than I can handle!!! Once I am up and going, I'm ok but until then it's tough. So last week, I was reading a devotional and the verse above was part of it. I felt like the Lord wrote it just for me! So now, it is posted everywhere (and I mean everywhere...see below) and what a difference it has made in my life. I am trying to focus on more joy all day but especially in the morning. I have changed a bit more of my morning routine so that I focus on what needs to be focused on when I get up...and do it with joy. God is truly working on my heart and it has truly made a difference in our home. I just love when God gets a hold of our hearts like that and changes us. I am so not there yet but He is working on me. It's just that kids song, "He is working on me, to make me what I ought to be..." So my clementine still sits on my sink window sill and yes, I am starting to see a bit of green on it and know I need to throw it out but I am praying that the fruit of JOY is ripening in my life...

Yes, these are hanging in my shower...I am finding it's the best place and time to memorize scripture right now. Having quiet time is a difficult task right now but I shower at night so I can have some time to myself and I've learned to meditate on scripture as well! When God gives me a verse, I write it out, put it in a baggie and tape it to our shower wall. I love it!

I know~ how can you not have JOY with these goobers waking you up each morning!?!?!

Caleb and Josiah love making glasses out of their "Wikki Stix"...just like daddy.

Hannah loves to fill her shopping cart up and walk around with it...as long as Josiah is not around trying to take it from her...

"All I Want for Christmas..."

"...is my 2 front teeth, my 2 front teeth, yeah, my 2 front teeth. Gee, if I could only have my 2 front teeth, then I could wish you "Merry Christmas!". This was a familiar song in our house this Christmas season with little Miss Hannah. She still had no teeth at Christmas time! Well, here we are at 14 1/2 months and she if finally getting her first tooth...and it's a molar! YIKES! We are just praying for comfort for her because I'm sure they will come in like crazy now. I'm stocking up on Tylenol and Orajel to make her comfortable! It's exciting when they start getting teeth but I will surely miss that gummy smile... And for another first, she loved her first time in the snow. She got a snowsuit for Christmas which was a fight to get her into but she loved being outside! She just ran around in the snow and tried to help the boys shovel. It was fun and she wanted no part of having to come inside!

Here, she is...my newest little pink snow bunny. She is lovin' it!

Trying to help daddy and the boys shovel. "Anything you can do, I can do better!" That is such a perfect song for her with her brothers!

She just absolutely loved walking all around in the snow.

My 3 snow angels...

She just started walking down our street (don't worry, there were absolutely no cars!)
There goes my baby...off into the winterwonderland!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

Life is good! What a fantastic Christmas break we have together as a family. It has been so relaxing and fun to spend time together. What did we do? Really, not much and I think that's why the time has been so great. The few days before Christmas were a bit busy with some last minute shopping, wrapping and cooking but once Christmas Eve hit...how enjoyable. Dave's parents were here for a little over a week and what a blessing it was to spend time with them. The kids loved having them here each day, playing with their dog "Gracie", baking cookies with Grandma and opening gifts with them Christmas morning. Dave and I enjoyed their company and they were a big help with the kids. We even got to go to a friend's house and play games one night...without the kids! We absolutely LOVE our kids but it is nice to just get out as a couple once in a while...it doesn't happen enough right now. After the hub bub of Christmas, it took us awhile to find places for the new toys and this week Dave and I have been working on a lot of projects around the house. Nothing major just organizing and cleaning out. Him and his dad built some shelves in the basement and it helped so much. We have been busy but it's a good busy. Next week is back to routine with work and school. It's supposed to snow a bit tomorrow so I am going to enjoy the day scrapbooking to end my Christmas break. I hope you all had a wonderful and blessed Christmas and I am looking forward to all that God has in store for us in 2010. I know I always post a lot of pics but it just seems to be the best way to tell the story...enjoy!

Christmas Eve before all the festivities. I know... Hannah is not looking but man is it hard to get a good picture...do you take the one with your youngest not looking or the one with the oldest mad and crossing his arms...decisions, decisions...

With the boys bedrooms upstairs and ours downstairs, it just doesn't make sense to continue the tradition of our "stair" picture because on the way to our room, they see their gifts! So this year, I heard their little feet at about 6:30 am and grabbed my camera so I could capture the looks on their faces...priceless!

Josiah...always posing for the camera, no matter what time of the day.

I absolutely LOVE this picture...Christmas just makes everyone cooperative I guess!

Daddy attempting to read the Christmas story with Hannah climbing all over him...she is such a monkey over the last few weeks!

Hannah is all ready to open her gifts with Grandpa.

Caleb and his aircraft carrier. And though, he had sneaked a peek at this a couple weeks earlier, it was never mentioned and he was just as excited about it anyway!

Josiah and his rescue helicopter. Yes, the one he wanted us to pray he would get...every night! When he started opening it, he peeked inside, then looked at us with his mouth wide open, then peeked again, then looked at us before he ripped it open. He was so excited!

Though she can't say I think this might have been Hannah's favorite gift...her Princess chair from Grandma and Grandpa. She'll be all set when we go camping this summer.

The boys were excited about this gift they got together. We put it in the basement and they have been playing together. It is so cute and Uncle Tim would be quite proud of them!

We delivered our cookies on Christmas Day to the Fire Station and this year, we still couldn't get Josiah to sit in the truck on his own but he did sit with Caleb and they had so much fun checking out all the trucks and equipment.

The boys all got these CARS robes from Auntie Lauren and Uncle Tim...so cute!

Auntie Wendy made Hannah this adorable tutu for Christmas. I can't wait to get her a little leotard (gosh, my first girl, is that even how you spell that???) now!

It's hard to believe that Caleb and Isaac actually made it to midnight on New Year's Eve. Although, Isaac was out by 12:10 am in his mommy's arms. Caleb, not so much. He was asleep by 1:00 am and STILL up at 6:30 am!

Ok, not a holiday picture but one of my projects this vacation was to organize our bedroom and make myself a little "nook" to read my Bible and do my study. Well, today the boys found quite comfortable I guess. They climbed up there, got comfy and Caleb was "reading" my Bible to Josiah. It's never too early to start...