My God is Soooo Awesome!!!

I don't really know how to begin. So I guess I will just jump right in. For quite a while now Matt and I have been praying about another job. It seemed when he put applications in nobody called him. Then something happened in his job that made it obvious that he needed to get another job. I was nervous about the whole thing because new things can be a little scary. And I remind you he had put applications in before and never got called back. To add to that Matt didn't appear to be nervous at all. He was very calm and at peace with the whole thing. He just kept saying God will work it out. And then... here it goes....God already knew and had a job planned for Matt. Within a week Matt already had an interview and then a job. We are so excited about it. Matt now works in a factory very close to home (less than four or five minutes from home). I know many of you would say, "I wouldn't want to work in a factory." But let me explain without going into great detail. The job he had before was not consistent work, about every six months or so there were problems you didn't even see coming... well let me stop there and just say why we are excited about the new job.

No more self-employment taxes.
No more spending over $160 or so in gas a week.

No more driving 5-6 hundred miles a week.

No more taking an hour to get home from work.

No more cold lunch meat sandwiches everyday for lunch (or fast food).

No more unpaid holidays.

No more unpaid doctor bills ( we get health benefits now).

No more unpaid (if you take at all) vacations.

No more paying for liability insurance.

As you can see there are many positives out of all this and that is why we are excited. Don't get me wrong the other job Matt really enjoyed doing. And when he got that job we really feel like it was from God. Matt learned many skills he did not have before and enjoyed that line of work. However, this other job has better benefits for us for right now. That is why I feel like my God is so Awesome.

PS. I really love this picture. It looks so peaceful and calming. And yes this is another picture that Heather took. If you haven't called her yet to schedule your appointment I would encourage you to do that.

Precious Moments

A fresh reminder how simple it is to please some children (and some adults). We brought this swing set home from my moms house yesterday because I wanted a porch swing and I don't have a porch big enough. So this will have to do for my swing. Matt didn't really want it in our front yard because he said it would look trashy sitting there and we already have the kids a swing set in the back yard. Besides I have a porch swing under our car port in the back yard. (It's just not the same wayyyy back there.) Well on with my story... I really like it so far. Isabelle has wanted to be on it continually (even when we go home from church last night after 9:00pm. When she went out to get on it again this morning I just couldn't resist taking a picture of her. For some weird reason something so simple gave me happiness today.

First Day of Preschool

My baby girl started her second year of preschool today. She was so excited to go. She asked me all morning, "Is it time for school yet!" I was really happy for her when she finally got to go. She went right in just like she did all year last year. Didn't even say bye mommy (just like last year too). I think I miss her more than she misses me. But I really am happy that she likes to go. This will give her time with other kids her age and me a little bit of free time to do a few things I need to do anyway.

Mrs. Jenkins, Isabelle, Mrs. Lysko

@Saint Marys Preschool

I'm glad my baby had a good first day. Now we can all get back into our routine.

Labor Day Picnic

This year for Labor day the men (and a few women) went to the church and worked until 11:30 A.M. They pulled up all the shrubs, bushes, etc., painted, planted Ivy, fixed guttering, laid landscaping bricks, and well you get the point. They did a ton of work. After that the Wilhelm's had the church Labor Day picnic at their house this year. It was so nice not to have to go to the TPA park like we normally do. The kids all had fun and it seemed all the adults had fun too. When we go to the park the men and teens have fun playing baseball but the mommies all get to sit and watch the kids so nothing bad can happen and somebody doesn't snatch them. This year there was plenty for everyone to do. So many thanks to Kevin and Beth!!!!

Need I remind you of Isabelle's love for horses. She asked before we even went out there if she could ride the horses. We told her she wasn't allowed to say anything about riding them because that wasn't what we were going for. So needless to say she was pretty happy when they got the horses out. I believe she would be happy if she could do this everyday.

Dad even joined in on the fun.

Who knew card board boxes could be so much fun. I think all the kids had their turn in the boxes. They enjoyed playing in these boxes as much or more then the trampoline that I didn't get a picture of. But as you can tell there was plenty for the kids to do out there.

And of course Matt loved volleyball. I must admit I played my fair share too. But I love that Matt enjoys playing so much. It seems as adults you don't get to do this kind of stuff as often as we probably should. So it sure is nice when we all get together and get to do this sort of thing.

Preschool Open House Wed., August 29

Isabelle will be going to St. Mary's Preschool again this year. She really liked it last year and missed her teachers over the summer. She asked me last week if she could get Mrs. Jenkins and Mrs. Lysko a card for school. She really enjoys being them and she loves being big like the boys. I really hope she learns a lot there this year. Every time I try to have her sit down and try to learn how to write her name or recognize letters she just doesn't seem to be interested. (Although she has been trying to write an s and she could already write an I. I guess that's progress.) This is really kind of scaring me with Kindergarten starting next year. But a year can change a lot of things maybe by the end of this year that's all she'll want to do. I guess we will see.

Isabelle had a good time showing her cousin Julian around the classrooms and play area at preschool. She thought she was so big getting to be the leader. She walked him through the circle time room saying "this is the puppets, this is the piano, this is the chair, etc." It was so funny to watch her point out the obvious as if she hadn't told him he wouldn't have figured it out. When they first ran into the play room she ran over to the babies and kitchen. We said Julian do you want to go over there and play with Isabelle. He said "no" and went to play with the train. It was cute to watch them choose total opposite things. But Isabelle has two older brothers she can play with "boy" toys also. So she gave in and played with him. She sure does enjoy playing with her babies though.

The happy preschoolers. Isabelle keeps asking everyday, "Is it almost time for school?" " One more day mom?" "Only one more sleep mom? " Well you get the point. She just can't seem to wait to get back into her school routine.

School, School, School

The school year has began again. I was not looking forward to the kids going back to school this year. I miss them when they are not at home. But I am looking forward to having a routine again. The whole routine thing goes by the wayside in the summer. Everyone seem to be falling right back into it this morning though. No one was upset about going back. I think the boys were looking forward to having someone to talk to other then their own family members. The special people who will be teaching our boys this year will be Miss Lyndsey (Cody) and Mrs. Norfleet (Austin). Austin loves Mrs. Norfleet a lot. She has been teaching here for three years now. However, this is the first year for Miss Lyndsey. So please pray that it will be a good year for her and her students.

Today is the day. That's right today is the day the real work starts. The boys are now officially back in school.

Mmmm Salsa!!!

There's a first time for everything. And this is one of them for us. Our family absolutely loves salsa. It seems we buy it every time we go to the store. So...Matt and I decided to take on the project of making our own. We made ten jars last Saturday and yesterday when he got off work we made fourteen more jars as well as five jars of stewed tomatoes. That is a total of twenty-four jars of salsa and (obviously) five jars of tomatoes. We were thinking about making more canned tomatoes but it's cheap to go to Aldi and buy them and we enjoyed making the salsa. So we went with more salsa. I'm always nervous about starting something new so I am so glad I have a husband who helps me do these things. I think he even enjoyed doing it. I know I sure enjoyed it. MAYBE NEXT YEAR WE CAN PLANT MORE TOMATOES!!!! Just kidding. I'm not sure I'm ready to do more next year than we did this year. I'm really not big on the BIG mess it makes. Maybe over time and practice the mess isn't as big. I don't know but this year we made quite a mess. Well this is one to those things I always wanted to do but never took the time. So it was rather exciting to do something new.

We thought for a while we wouldn't get very many tomatoes this year because while several others were already eating their tomatoes we had not one ripe yet. But as you can see we were blessed with many tomatoes. This definitely made me a happy camper. Nothing beats fresh from the garden tomatoes.

I'm glad I saved my baby scales. I don't know how old this thing is but I used it way back when Austin was a baby. I almost got rid of it a couple times. But I thought I might use it for something someday. And now that someday has arrived.

It looks and smells oh so good.
We obviously could not wait to try it. And believe me this stuff taste so much better then anything you can buy from a store. How many jars do you think we have left?

Mmm Good!

I'm Done!!!!!!

That's right everyone I am done. Done buying school supplies that is. I thought I already had most of it but when I went today to finish up I come to realize I wasn't as finished as I had thought I was. But now I know I am done. They were excited to have new things too!!! Sometimes I think I should make them reuse their things from last year. And some things they do reuse but I'm glad they get new stuff also. It seems they get to start out fresh every year when they get new things. I was also happy to get a few extra things that wasn't on their school supply list (calender, white erase board, etc.). I think this gives their office and locker a personal touch. I'm glad that I'm the mom when it comes to getting school supplies because I really enjoy doing it (not the money part but the fun part).

Cody with his school supplies!

Austin with his school supplies!

Katy's Horse and Isabelle's love for them

When Katy (Rynearson) called and asked if I would want to bring the kids over to the fair grounds to see her new horse I was very excited. My kids love horses (well Cody's a little scared but he likes to look at them.) We have got him to ride one at Dan and Rhonda's house but that is the only time so far. Anyway Austin and Isabelle love them a lot and so I was excited for them to get to see them. She has a pony and a full grown male horse. They are so cute. It was very sweet of her to invite us and I really appreciate it. Katy seemed to be doing very well. She loves being there taking care of the horses (feeding, bathing, and cleaning the stall, etc.) It sounded like she has learned a lot about them and now she wants to teach her new horse to barrel race. I'm excited that she has found something to keep her busy. I think it would be wonderful for every teen to have a hobby to keep them busy. I'm glad she found hers.
As to be expected Isabelle did not want to leave when it was time to go. And get this...now she has decided she wants a horse for Christmas. (So I guess you're not the only one starting your Christmas wish list Angie. I don't know if Santa will be able to carry your dishwasher and Isabelle's horse in his sleigh. I guess we will have to wait and see.) I'm guessing that if Santa brings a horse to our house for Christmas it will have to be for everyone not just Isabelle. But right now I don't see that happening. For now we just appreciate our friends who share their four legged friends with us.

Isabelle on Katy's new horse (I can't remember his name). As you can see she loves him too!

Katy and Isabelle in the horse barn on the fair grounds.

Summers Ending

We have been very busy the last couple of weeks. I will try to give you an extreme short version of what we have been doing. On July 28 we went to the Creation Museum. It was an experience to say the least. The museum itself was very interesting and educational. This is a wonderful opportunity for someone who doesn't know anything about God or about Creation. The only problem I had was how extremely crowded it was. There was so many people you couldn't even turn around without bumping into someone. I guess this is a good thing because people are learning about God's Creation but if you have plans to go I would encourage you to go during the week or next year sometime when it isn't so new. Matt heard someone mention 10,000 people being there. He said he wasn't sure they meant the day we were there or 10,000 for the whole week. It sure felt like there was 10,000 people there that day. Don't get me wrong it is a wonderful thing just too crowded.
For those of you who have children this is an excellent opportunity to discuss dinosaurs. At least it was for me. As we were walking through the dinosaur exhibit Cody had heard or been taught that dinosaurs lived on earth before man and they all died from an atomic boom. I got the opportunity to discuss the Biblical perspective on dinosaurs with him. I thought that because he was so young and we had him in a Christian school he wouldn't have heard that kind of stuff yet. I guess I thought wrong but this was a wonderful time to discuss it with him.