Wow...I'm really pathetic at this...

Okay, so I doubt anyone is still reading this thing, but just in case...here goes...
This summer went by way too fast. On June 30th, Asher turned two and on July 19th, Brayden turned 4. They are getting so big! Trent turned 33 on July 9th. And we celebrated our 7th anniversary on July 26th. Throw in several other family member's birthdays and well...that's about how our summer went :) Trent is still in school, so he did a lot of homework and I did a lot of editing over the summer. Fun times! When he finally finished his summer session, we were blessed to have the opportunity to go to Disney World for a week! The kids had so much fun with all of the characters and Brayden even rode the Tower of Terror! I think I was more afraid for him than he was. He didn't care for the ghosts, but he loved the actual elevator ride and the going "up and down." Asher slept through the Small World ride yet again. It was his favorite thing when he was 2 months old and he hasn't seen it since b/c he's slept through it every time! He and Brayden both loved eating meals with the characters, but I do believe that it is much easier to eat dinner when there aren't any characters to be seen anywhere! Now we're back to the real world. I started school today with kids, but this year I am no longer a Ram, but yet an Archer Tiger! I love my school colors (red and silver), the sense of unity among the staff members and my room (I have two large windows in my room!). I do miss several people that I left at Grayson, but hope to get together and do lunch sometime soon! Oh and we just did the most amazing thing ever with our College & Career program...we had a Giving Back(pack) day at our church and we were able to help 19 + families that were in need of some help this year by providing them with a backpack and some basic essentials to start their school year! I am so thankful that I am able to be part of such a loving group of people. Well, if you still care to know what's going on with me, hopefully this has updated you a bit.
Until Next Time...and who knows when that'll be???

God's Blessings...

Okay, so I just looked and my last post was pretty negative, so I feel that I need to step back and just look at the blessings in life for a minute. I realize every day just how lucky I am to live where I do and have the freedoms that we have. I also want to take a minute to say just how blessed Trent and I were this weekend to have wonderful family that knew just the time to lift us up when we needed it. Our pantry was bear, but thanks to wonderful parents and parents-in-law our pantry is no longer bare! :) And God has blessed our ministry with some visitors recently that we enjoyed having and hope to see again soon! And the moon last night...I don't know if anyone else noticed, but the moon was absolutely beautiful! It's the little things in life that can bring us so much joy if we just stop, take a step back and just look at the beauty of God's works! He is so amazing! And another blessing...Asher went to the ENT last week and his ears looked GREAT!!! There was NO mentioning of him needing his adenoids removed or anything! I just can't believe that our God is so faithful to us even when we are unfaithful to Him. Even through the storms of our lives...He is there! It actually IS in the storms of our lives that we realize just how present He really is!
Just a short update on the family...Trent is still unemployed, but is in school full time and part time on staff at the church, I am still working full time at Grayson and helping with the ministry, Brayden is now 3 1/2-growing like a weed! He is memorizing verses like crazy for church and singing songs that make me cry!!! He is also writing his name now on dotted lines and is starting to understand the concept of "connect the dots" Asher is now 20 months and is doing great! He is starting to talk a lot more (still babbling, but I usually know what he's saying), playing baseball with brother and he likes to draw while brother is doing his homework-it's SO cute!!! Well, I need to go for now...until next time...may God's blessings be with each of you!

Oh the CHANGES we're seeing...

So, I'm writing this post with a still aggrivated heart...not a good thing I know, but "it is what it is"-my new life moto...
Well, I must start by saying that Thanksgiving was wonderful! It was such a blessing to spend time with family and eat until our hearts were content :) The day after Thanksgiving shopping was not so great! Fun-we had it (me, momma, Shannon and Shae), but money-we didn't! We spent most of our time this year people watching and window shopping. If you weren't aware, my daddy lost his job the day before Thanksgiving! He was okay with it, but I just can't figure out how you can be so cruel! It's funny we keep hearing about how things are getting better, but when my dad went to the unemployment office on Monday he waited over 4 hours to be seen!!! That doesn't sound like things are getting much better people?! Trent and I are also in a bind right now...at the mercy of the government...They said he was under investigation b/c he was hired w/G.C. Schools as a sub; however, he hasn't worked a single day, so his unemployment shouldn't be affected. We got confirmation just before Thanksgiving that things were okay; however, we have yet to receive a check in 3 weeks!
Okay, that's enough venting about adult life...let's talk the wonderful innocent world of children...
Brayden and Asher are growing up so quickly! It was so cute...on Thanksgiving we made t-shirts with them and used their handprints to make turkeys on them. This is a tradition I think I may keep doing b/c it's a neat way to keep up with their hands growing each year! Brayden's favorite thing this Thanksgiving was PUMPKIN PIE! I have never made a pumpkin pie in my life, but now I can say that I have made several. I have the easiest recipe...a can of pumpkin, jar of marshmallow fluff, 1/2 container of whip cream (approx. 4 ozs), and cinnamon to taste. You just mix it all together and pour into a pie shell and put it in the fridge! So easy (and pretty good-I'm not a fan of pumpkin, but I shall say that Brayden ate probably 3 pies!) I'm not sure what Asher's favorite thing was...he typially loves food in general. I would dare say that he ate his weight on turkey day in GREEN BEANS.
You know...it's times like these when you look for the simple blessings in life. We don't have a lot of money, but we have a wonderful family and a great group of friends. Thank you to each one of you for everything!
Please keep us in your prayers...God is Great and He has provided for us soo much, but it just helps to know that we've got friends and family out there praying for us and lifting us up. We too will be praying for you. Times are tough (in my family at Thanksgiving-5/9 of the men were unemployed!) This is the time we must stick together and lift each other up! May God bless you and your family this Christmas season and may we all not forget the true meaning of Christmas...it's not about the gifts, but about our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and his birth. Take time to spend with the ones you love this season!

CRAFT FAIR/SHOPPING EXTRAVAGANZA!!!

Hey everyone (if there's anyone out there that's still reading this thing)...It's definitely not too early to start thinking about Christmas shopping and I have the perfect place for you to start...Our College and Career group is having it's 1st ever Craft Fair/Shopping Extravaganza in the Fellowship Hall on November 21st!!! We are going to have a variety of vendors with both homemade (bags, aprons, bows, tutus, diaper cakes, candles, ornaments, etc.) and retail items (Avon, Tupperware, Beauticontrol, etc) to sell. We are praying for a large turn out!

Wow...Long Time No See...

Okay, so I have realized that I stink at this whole blogging thing...since I last wrote, there has been so much to happen!!! 1st off we had a wonderful summer! Crazy to think since Trent still doesn't have a job, but we actually went on 3 vacations this summer! We went to Disney World with my family the week after school let out and the boys had a blast! They loved the character dinners and rides and everything that Disney entails. Then we went to the beach with Trent's family. Brayden fell asleep in the ocean and Asher wasn't a fan, but slept on the beach instead. Then we went back to the beach with Paul, Maw-Maw and Ronald (and I went and picked up Shannon and Shae about halfway through the trip). The boys were still about the same as far as the ocean and the sand the second go-round. We also celebrated Asher's 1st birthday on June 30th with a big Mickey and Friends birthday party! I made him a mickey mouse cake using a round cake and a small bowl to make the ears! It was exhausting, but so much fun! We had a little pool and sprinkler for the kids to play in, but Asher wasn't a real fan of either of them! He preferred to just play in the dry grass with a ball or whatever! We celebrated Trent's birthday in Florida. Then we celebrated Brayden's birthday with a Buzz and Woody birthday! I didn't have a pan for these, so I made a sheet cake and literally drew Buzz and Woody onto the cake with icing. Not my favorite, but he knew who it was and loved it, so that was all that mattered. We also got a big jumpy thing for him to play in and after all the kids left, we (me, Trent, Brayden and Asher) got in it and jumped for a while, then did what Brayden wanted to do the whole time...sat in a corner of the thing and read books! It was so much fun!
After our busy summer it was time for school to start back. Trent had a job for 3 days with the CDC, then they let him go saying that they didn't think he would require any training...what job doesn't expect you to need "any" training...but God sustained us and now Trent is watching the boys during the day and going to school at night to be an early childhood teacher. He and Paul are going together (Paul got laid off the day Trent started his job with the CDC-Aug. 3, then Trent got let go 3 days later, so it opened the door for them to do this together!) I know it helps them having each other to be accountable to. My work is same-old same-old...I actually have pretty good kids this year for the most part and although I'm teaching a new subject area, I am really enjoying it! :)
And the kicker...Brayden started pre-school the Tuesday after Labor Day! His teachers are Ms. Lyniece and Ms. Cheryl. He loves them and his friends so much! He is such a big boy now! We just had our first parent/teacher conference yesterday after his Halloween party and we found out that he is doing really well in class. They love his personality, but oddly enough...my child who loves playing the piano at both of his grandparents houses and the drums, saxaphone, whatever will make noise at our house...well, he doesn't like to participate in...you guessed it...MUSIC!!!! This makes no sense to us, but I guess kids will be kids...
Asher is now walking and talking (some). He had a really bad incident a few weeks back with his breathing and was diagnosed with full blown asthma. He was having a hard time breathing and when I took him to the dr. they had to give him a breathing treatment, shot of epinepherin (sp?) and orapred (oral steroid) and nothing worked! That's when they rushed us to Gwinnett Medical (they said they didn't want to chance it with us going to Scottish Rite or anywhere else) and they gave him an hour long treatment! It was so sad seeing him like this. He is still having a hard time with his lungs (coughing/wheezing), but hopefully things will start getting better soon! His best friend is Dusty (Uncle Paul's dog)-just ask Brayden...he'll tell you!
At any rate...all is well and now that I'm getting back into the swing of things at work, maybe I can write on this a little more often :)
Take care everyone and I'm sorry I wrote so much...I tried to shorten 5 months into a single post! :) Oh, and when I get a chance, I will add pics from all our festivities!!!

Praise/Prayer Request...

God is sooo good, isn't He? I've never been more in awe of the awesomeness (if that's a word) of the God that we serve. In the past couple of weeks we have been rained on so much with blessings that I can truly say my cup overflows! For starters, someone in our church has been blessing us by buying our dinner on Wednesday nights for the past couple of weeks. Even if we weren't able to make it to dinner for various reasons, the meal would be paid for and Trent would bring it home...that in turn would become Thursday nights dinner...then, someone or somegroup in our church collected a love offering that was given to us on the Wednesday before the 1st of May...well, the amazing thing is that May 1st was the 1st day that we were not going to have a regular paycheck from Trent. The money that was collected in conjunction with Trent's unemployment will get us through the next couple of months! Then, on Thursday a lady from my work came in and said that she heard I was needing some formula and she had a diaper bag full of samples as well as a case of 24-8oz. pediasures for Brayden! As if that wasn't already enough, Trent was offered two different tickets to our men's conference at church, so we decided that God wanted him there and on top of the blessings from the message itself, sure enough Trent's ticket was drawn for one of the two doorprizes which one was for $50 and the other for $100 and you guessed it...Trent got the $100 door prize!!! It has just been absolutely amazing! Well, you thought the blessings were over (and so did we), but then we went out Saturday night (with $20 that a wonderful man at church gave Trent and said for us to have a date night) and we went to the Gwinn. Braves game with another couple and as I was telling her about all the blessings and the formula, etc. she asked what kind we used and guess what...She had a can left over from her daughter that was the same as what Asher is taking...she said they had kept saying they were going to it take to a food bank, but kept forgetting it, so she just gave it to me (along with several jars of baby food)! Putting the formula thing in perspective...we have been given enough formula now that we will not have to buy anymore formula (Asher will probably not even use all of what we were given!!!!)

Please be in prayer for our family. Trent has two potential part-time ministry opportunities. One is at our current church, but moving up and leading the college and career and the other is at Mars Hill Baptist Church leading the youth. We are currently not sure which way God is leading us, but ask everyone to be in prayer for us. I have never felt stronger that God took Trent's job away so that we would learn to depend more on Him and so that he could open up the opportunities for Trent to be where He wants him to be...in the ministry.
Thank you in advance for your prayers!
God Is Good!!!!

Pictures

Okay, I really wanted to post some Easter pics, but for some reason I can't find the file on my computer...stressing right now because I think I deleted some of my Easter pics from my camera!!! At any rate, below are some pics from Trent's cousin's wedding this past weekend. It was so beautiful! Congratulations Jeremy and Laura and thank you for letting us be a part of it! (Brayden was the bell ringer and Trent was a groomsman)