When I can't write for myself...

Obviously, blogging has become a low priority in my life. But, recently I had an interesting experience at the hairdresser about homeschooling. And since my friend Sarah is amazing and awesome, she blogged about it.
Head over to her blog to find out how I actually got up the nerve to confront someone on their negative view of homeschooling.

This is our Life: A boy and an iPad

In an effort this year to catch our family as we are, in our element, and candidly, here is my Micah, doing what he loves. He loves this iPad and had mastered it by the time he was 18 months. Honestly, this is how I get to sleep a little longer in the mornings, and sometimes this is how I get history and reading done with the "big kids"

 

Christmas card

5x7 Folded Card

View the entire collection of cards.

Tonight I got a little bit of a head start on my Christmas cards through Shutterfly!!

Perspective

It is a sad, sad thing that I have not blogged since June. Oh well.

The past 24 hours have been really stressful for me. Waah,Waah, here is my sob story. A week ago, Caleb tells me that our desktop computer won't boot up. What does he know? I always get it to boot up. So, downstairs I go, and it says it needs to do some type of fix it thingy before it can boot up. I follow the directions and let it work it's magic to get all booted up again. After an hour it says it needs to try it's magic again because it didn't work the first time. "Oh crap," I start to think, "what if, just what if something is wrong." Because it was just the day before I was wondering, "when was the last back up?" It had been a loooonnngg time ago.

The next day Mike took it in to the Computer place and assured me it would be ok. The thing is less than two years old. All I really want at this point is my pictures. That is all, everything else means nothing to me. I must mention that last month I took yearbook pictures for our homeschool group. 125 individual pictures. This is on my mind, as well as most of Micah's life in pictures.

Monday, Mike gets a call that they are pretty sure there is nothing they can do. This was the 10% chance of things, by the way, that they said could happen. They were going to try one more thing. This is where I lost it and began to cry.

How could I have let this happen? I don't know how to back them up on the external hard drive, but I could have asked Mike at any given time. If I am going to be a photographer, I should be more responsible. Just how much of Micah's life wasn't backed up. Christmas', birthday's, Easter?

And then yesterday, I read our devotion with the kids from Jesus Calling. It was about being thankful. "When you come to Me with a thankful heart, it opens up windows of heaven. Spiritual blessing fall freely through those widows and down into your life. A thankful heart opens you up to these blessing, and then you have even more reasons to be grateful."

The scripture to this was Habakkuk 3:17-18

"Though the fig tree should now blossom, nor fruit be on the vines,

the produce of the olive fail

and the fields yield no food,

the flock be cut off from the fold

and there be no herd in the stalls,

yet I will rejoice in the Lord;

I will take joy in the God of my salvation.

God, the Lord, is my strength;

he makes my feet like the deer's;

he makes me tread on my high places."

For me I thought "though my computer may fail, and my pictures are gone, I will rejoice in the Lord." While I have lost what are so many of my memories through pictures, the ones I take pictures of are right here with me. God has taught me a lot of lessons these past months with a to of heart break going on around me. I will rejoice in Him.

Today, I got a text from Mike that said, "it is all gone, they don't see anything." Right after that I looked outside to see two of my neighbors walking. One is a physical therapist who is now helping out the other neighbor who just went through brain surgery at the age of 46 because she has brain cancer.

Perspective.

Mike's step mom is battling breast cancer, another family member ovarian cancer. One of my high school classmates lost her battle with leukemia this summer leaving behind four children. I am going to be ok.

I have many phone calls to make to have pictures retaken, and most of my pictures will never make it into a scrapbook. But, I will choose to be thankful for my wonderful life, and to have made so many memories with those I love around me.

What Micah is up to....

This little guy of mine, oh how I do love him!! He is funny and silly, and busy and loves cars!!! He is talking a lot and I wanted to remember some of the things he is saying at this point...so here it is, another Micah post.

His favorite thing in the world is cars. And trucks. And choo choos. When we dirve down the road, he has to point them all out. "Mommy, a car, Mommy a truck, a big truck! Mommy, a bus! Oh, a choo choo, a plane!" When we find a punch bug and call it out, "Silver Punch Bug!" He says, "Moooom", or "Daaadd." Before he could say cars, he said, "hars."

He also says yes and no now. I miss his gesture of tapping his cheek when he said no. And he also says "uh huh" for yes. He calls us "Mommy, Daddy, Bubby, BB, and EE." Grandma and Grandpa are both "Papa." He also says "Jesus" He loves our VBS music and videos and asked to listen to Jesus. He also goes to the statue of Jesus at my Mom's house and kisses it and says, "Jesus."

This weekend he pointed to a spot on his knee where he hard hurt it and said ,"boo boo" and then leaned over and kissed it. If you ask him who is my big boy, or who is cute he says "Me!" He also tells me when he pee pee and poo poos, but hasn't on the potty yet. He does like to flush the potty when I am done and say, "bye bye pee pee!"

Oh, and "mine" is a big word around here. I am working on that. Inside and outside are big words around here too. So is shoes. And he loves his shoes. But only one pair. His blue sandals. Dogs are popular around here too. He calls them "Ruff Ruff's." Cats are "Meow", but you have to stick your tongue out. . Horses are "Nee Nee"

He is growing so fast, as they all have. In about 6 weeks, we will be celebrating two with this precious little miracle.

Hail of a night...

This spring has brought pretty crazy weather around here. When Danielle was here, I told her I had not seen storms like those here and around us since we moved here. Our family was getting ready to head out to Atlanta last Wednesday so we could catch a flight to California on Thursday. We were under tornado warnings all day, so I called mike and told him I didn't want to drive down that night, but get up really early and drive after the warnings were gone. His response was, "I am getting off early, let's go ahead and drive before the worst of it hits."

So, off we went. I think I prayed every minute of the four hour drive (which normally would take three) There was debris flying everywhere. We were surrounded by trees on either side of I 75, and I kept waiting for a tornado to come up over the trees.

At one point, after we had driven into Georgia we heard the emergency alert system on the radio say, "Take cover if you are in Rome, GA. A tornado has just touched down." About a minute later, we passed the turn off to Rome! Mike kept saying, "I am so glad we did this tonight." My thought was, "you get me safely to our hotel and I will agree with you."

When we were a half hour outside of Atlanta, I got a phone call from our neighbor asking if we were safe. After I told her, "yes," she said, "ok. The good news here is your ouse is still standing. The bad news is we had a terrible hail storm and your house is damaged and your car is probably totaled." That is what they knew at night.

The next morning, my neighbors were out boarding up our windows that were blown all the way through. Friends came over and vacuumed water out of our car, rescued music sheets, cleaned up glass, and cleaned up the house. We flew to California!

Once we got to CA, we received pictures of the damage awaiting us when we got back. After reading about Tuscaloosa, AL. I felt thankful for the minimal damage done to my house, and for the amazing people in my life who jumped in to help us out.

Danielle

This is Danielle. She is my best friend. We met 13 years ago at Bible Study Fellowship in Silverdale, WA. We sat together at the lecture, which was on marriage and she leaned over to me and said, "Mawwiage is what bwings us together today." We have been friends since. I say she is my best friend, when really, I have so many "best friends", but she was my first real friend to keep friendship real. To tell me the truth in love and to tell me when my butt looked big in a pair of pants and me not be offended by it :)

And....she and her family came to visit me for 9 days while on their adventure across the country. It was close to the perfect week for me. Every day Danielle and her girls came over, some days Kyle came too. We went to the mountains, a civil war re-enactment, shopped, took the kids horse back riding, and spent lots and lots of time sitting around and talking. (Oh yeah, and we went to the Melting Pot. Just me and Danielle)

Our kids got along great. They had not seen each other in three years, and don't really know each other. Kadie and April made me laugh almost as much as Danielle did!

It was realllly hard to say good bye at the end. They had to move on with their trip, and eventually get back to Washington. I cried and cried as they pulled away and my sweet Elisa said, "Group hug!"

Ice Cream!

Here it is, the second full day of Spring, and it is really warm! So tonight we went over to my neighbors for some ice cream cones. This was Micah's first one, and I told Jan and Herb that he would be over more often! and his little sweetie, Brylee, was there too!

March 20, 2000

Eleven years ago today I became a Mommy.

I didn't know if I was having a girl or a boy, but I could not wait. I had been on bed rest for 5 weeks due to high blood pressure. Then I was induced at 38 weeks. Then I was released from the hospital because my baby didn't seem to want to come out. I didn't know pitocin didn't always work.

The next week I was admitted on a Sunday night. I remember watching "That 70's Show." And after being in labor all day on Monday, at 11:21 p.m. I became a mom. And I heard my mom say, "You have a Caleb." It was one of the best days of my life.
Happy Birthday to my sweet first born. You are growing up too fast, but I am so proud of the young man you are becoming. I love you, I love your heart, I love how you love all of us. You are a sweet, sweet blessing in my life.

Caleb, 5 months

5 years

(almost 11)

Another Micah picture post...

So it was 20 degrees out. I got a new lens and I wanted to use it. And, Micah likes to be outside no matter how cold it is...

Capturing him sitting down long enough was interesting, and you will see how he truly feels about hats.

neglectful...

I have been neglectful (surprise) of my Party of Five..or Six blog...
But for good reason! I have started a Photography Blog, DonnaWilliamsPhotography and have been trying to keep up with it.
So, if you feel so inclined, visit me here too!! And I will try to keep up with our Party more often.

New Christmas Cards!

When I first checked out Shutterfly's cards this year, there was one I fell in love with. It said "every good gift" on the front, which has been the scripture I have used this year with a picture I had taken of my kids. I really wanted it. But, it was just a bit out of price reach for me for as many as I wanted. So I found one I loved in their small size.

And then the email came with the promotional offer for 50 free 5x7 cards. And that was just the size of the one I had loved. So I designed it and then, just because, I found another one. And I designed that one too. I took a family poll with each member in private so the older children (Caleb) would not influence the younger (Elisa) And it was unanimous! They all loved my first and favorite card best. So...here is my (favorite) Christmas card of 2010.

An orange envelope...

Since I have been taking pictures of friends and their beautiful children, I have had many orange envelopes arriving on my doorstep each week. I love pictures. I love looking and them and receiving packages of them. I use Shutterfly. A lot.

Tis the season for many Christmas envelopes coming. I recently got my 2011 calendar finished, ordered, and received. I needed November and December of 2010, so I like that I can start the calendar at any time. And I have all my favorite "peeps" birthday's already printed on the calendar. I always choose a favorite picture for each month from the year before. My kids always get their pictures on their birthday month, and my favorite Christmas picture goes in December.

Today I got my newest Shutterfly album of our family pictures. Earlier this week it was some of my Christmas cards. Designing my cards is always something I love. There are so many designs and templates to choose from, and I enjoy "playing" with which picture may work here...deciding whether I should use induvidual pictures or a group picture. Here is a sneak peak of one of my designs this year:

This isn't the first year I have used Shutterfly, I think I am on my fifth year of their Christmas cards. I loved last years because we had another person on it!

One thing I have not tried on Shutterfly is their canvas prints. I recently took my sisters family pictures and she ordered a large canvas print. It is beautiful, and now I am jealous I didn't think of it first after ordering my own family pictures.

Tonight I finished one of my son's Christmas presents. He and Mike got to spend a weekend on the USS Yorktown with the Boy Scouts while we were in Charleston, and he took many pictures. So, tonight I finished his photo book and can't wait to give it to him!

This week, thanks to Sarah, I found out that bloggers can get 50 free Christmas cards from Shutterfly! I have some, but not enough, so yay, another orange envelope to look forward to!

Family pictures...

Our friend, Sam took our family pictures today. He is very talented and I love them! (and our friend, Larry, stood behind him to make Micah laugh!)

Asheville...and Mike...

Mike and I left for Asheville on Saturday. We had planned to go hiking somewhere...but, well, it snowed.


So, we explored downtown Asheville on Saturday, walking around, holding hands, and laughing. It was good to be alone. We went in a lot of different shops. Some that interested us, some that didn't. We even went into an antique shop (which we never do) and found the most hilarious book. It is called "Where Did I Come From." And is a funny approach to teaching your kids about sex. Oh my, was it funny. We laughed so hard we thought we would get kicked out. And we may have, but the owner was more intersted in grooming his dog the whole time we were there. The pictures were cartoon-y and our favorite was of a baby boy looking at his penis and the caption said "don't worry, as you grow, it will grow." It was $18 and we both said, "if only it were $5." So, we left it there, but not before Mike took some pictures of our favorite pages and texted them to Sam.
Sam later texted (is that the correct way to say that?) back "where are you guys?" And then said he would be happy to chip in $9 for usto go get it. So we went back after dinner, and they were closed, and wouldn't reopen until Monday. But, becuase i am a bargain shopper and then had it in my head I had to have this book, when we got back to our room I got on Amazon. And found it for $5. :)

On Sunday we went to the Biltmore for the first time and it was amazing. I was of the thought that I didn't want to pay that much money to tour someone's house, but it was beautiful and I am really glad we went. My favorite part was touring the grounds. I would love to see them in the spring.

We could have spent more time there, including going to the wine tasting, but home beckoned, as did our children. And probably Sam and Gina too!

It was a perfect anniversary weekend.

15 years...

Today is Mike's and my 15th Wedding Anniversary! We were married on November 4, 1995 in Evansville, IN, on what was the coldest day of the season. And it was cold! I wanted to get married in the fall since it is my favorite time of year, and growing up in Florida, you don't get a lot of fall.

I am sure I thought when we got married, "so and so has been married for 15 years?!" thinking it was such a long time. But for me it has flown by. I am not poetic, nor great with sweet words, but it has been a wonderful 15 years. I married my best friend. I have moved with him four times. I have laughed with him and cried with him. I have rejoiced with him and fought with him. I have four children with him, and one in heaven. And I love him more than anything.

Tonight we will celebrate at our favorite restaurant, the Melting Pot. And this weekend we will get away by ourselves to Asheville, NC.

Happy Anniversary, Mikey. I love you so much!

My weekend..

I'm supposed to be in Florida, I'm supposed to be in Florida, I'm supposed to be in Florida....but I am not. Mike is in Florida, I am here. He has his second to last Love Worth Fighting For Marriage Event of the year in Lakeland today. We were all going to travel down there together, have dinner with my best friend from high school, see my brother, reminisce about when we were dating down there, and of course, have lunch with Kirk Cameron when it was all done on Sunday afternoon (and see if he remembered my name this time so he doesn't call me Mrs. Williams ever again)

but...Micah started feeling puny on Tuesday and we both got a little (a lot) worried that 11 hours in the car with a possibly sick baby and three other kids wondering "are we almost there?" would be a bit much for a four day trip. So Mike flew there instead, and I stayed here.

which meant...I got to take the kids to Chic Fil A last night for dinner and then get ice cream...take Caleb to his best friends house for a sleepover, and then cuddle with my girls in their bed while looking through the American Girl catalog, wishing which dolls we could get. (yes, we. I want a Julie doll, she is from 1974, the year I was born)
It meant that Micah got a full nights sleep in his own bed, and I got to watch Elisa score two goals in a soccer game I thought we would miss.
I also got ahead (by 3 weeks!) on my planning for the 50 states class I teach, impressing my co-leader who is much more organized than I.
And, I sat and watched my Thursday evening programs on hulu.com that I missed the night before since we no longer have cable.

I do...miss Mike. I miss that I am not there with him trying to help bring his stress level down. I miss that I am not the "ticket" lady today and I won't be there first hand to see how excited all the couples are going in, and coming out of the conference. I miss the funny stories Warren Barfield will tell and that I can't text my friend Eileen tomorrow bragging that I had lunch with Kirk (who does recognize me now)...

but...today I will enjoy my little people, curl up with a book when I get the chance, and enjoy that I will get to spend Sunday morning at my favorite church, leading the worship team, and learning from our pastor. And I will get the chance to say goodbye to my oldest nephew, Travis, who is leaving for basic training on Monday.

and...I will look forward to coming home from Monday Fun on Monday and having my Mike(y) home for a few days, and we will share how great our weekends were.

NASA...Space Museum

When I was but a little girl, one of my dreams was to be an astronaut. I grew up in Orlando and loved watching the Space Shuttle launches from my back yard. I remember the devastaion of the morning of the Challenger explosion...how the sky looked, how cold it was that day, how devastated my sixth grade teacher was. I have always loved the idea of going into space. So, I was so excited when we were able to take a trip to the NASA Space Museum in Huntsville, AL when we were in town for one of Mike's Feed Your Faith Marriage Events...

There was not a lot on the Space Shuttle program, ( I didn't get to see the IMAX movie on the Hubble telescope, Caleb tells me I would say otherwise if I had) but all they had on the Apollo program was so amazing, and fun, and interesting...here are some of our pictures...Here we are!

This is my favorite picture from the day..my husband is so talented and creative!

This showed a launch and how loud it would be as well as the vibration if you were there.

They have a fun play area where Micah and I spent a lot of time, this cracked me up...he doesn't look so good! Ok, this was my favorite Micah picture of the day. He is on the go so much so it is hard to get a good picture...but this one was so great! We hung out together while the "big kids" and Mike went to the IMAX movie.

Fighting in the Civil War...in our backyard...

I am not sure if we will ever make it through this war or not, it has taken forever. So, we took the fighting outside and "reenacted" many battles in our backyard.

For the Union: Mike, Rebekah, and Elisa

For the Confederacy: Donna, Caleb, and Micah (our little spy...he even took Mikes weapon using his sweet little smile) (oh, and he was captured too)

Caleb getting in some target practice..

Micah was captured early...they got him by coaxing him with a wagon...the Union meant business with their lineup

It was fun watching my girls playing with "guns"

Here they are on the Monitor

And the Confederates on the Merrimack...we got Micah back, but he got gun powder in his eyes here!

Micah on the lookout

Micah doing what he does best...acting sweet, then swiping Mike's sword

Another victory for the Union

The kids had a really great time, and hopefully this will be something that will help them remember some of the battles and victories of the Civil War...next up, who shall be Abe Lincoln delivering the Gettysburg Address...