Babysitting Eden & Chloe

I realized I have not posted in a while! The internet has been down at our house for a few days because of a lightning storm we had and I have been super busy at work so haven't had time to post!

Here are some pictures of Eden & Chloe when we were babysitting them on Friday night so Brent and Carissa and Emma and Andrew could go to Joel's graduation at Faith in Coleman.


Chloe eating dinner!

Eden Eating her chicken and pizza. She could even say chicken. I tried teaching them to say Kelli but they woudl just laugh. Maybe someday! =)

Chloe the super woman!! She loved this mask and didn't want to take it off.

Eden tried the mask, but it didn't stay on her face quite as well! It was so funny to watch her walk around.

Here is a picture of Eden "shopping"! She loves to try on shoes and necklaces. Carissa is going to have her hands full when she gets older!
It is fun to babysit with Heston and it makes me look forward to when we can have kids of our own. Carissa: Thanks for letting do our laundry and play with the kids! You guys are very special to us and we are so glad that we are friends! We had a great time!

Man in the coffee bean

In this pix of coffee beans there is a mans face. This is bizarre - after you find the guy - it's so obvious. Once you find him - it's embarrassing, and you wonder why you didn't see him immediately?



Doctors have concluded that if you find the man in the coffee beans in 3 seconds, your right half of your brain is better developed than most people. If you find the man between 3 seconds and 1 minute, your right half of the brain is developed normally. If you find the man between 1 minute and 3 minutes, then the right half of your brain is functioning slowly and you need to eat more protein. If you have not found the man after 3 minutes, the advice is to look for more of this type of exercise to make that part of the brain stronger!!!



And, yes, the man is really there!!!
If you are stuck and cannot find him--the answer is below. Dont scroll down unless you really give up.







Keep looking first before getting the answer. I was sorry I looked and thought this was a joke.










answer: look about 5 beans in from the bottom left hand corner!


I will let you know that I had to cheat because I could not find it. My friends Crystal and Julia looked at and Crystal found it after I gave her some hints, and even after Julia saw it, she still wasn't satisfied! Anyways, just thought I would share it wiht you!

Mother's Day

Here is a Mother's Day picture taken on the deck of the Blind Duck Inn in Kingsford. It was great having everyone together! I know my mom enjoyed it.
  

Wonderful time with family!

I had a wonderful time with my family! I had everything all in one post, but it was SO LONG! I split it up a little so it was a bit easier to read. I still have other pictures to post, but I will spread them out and share them from time to time.

Mother's Day

Saturday night we played games and Heston cooked us a great italiain dinner of spaghetti and meatballs! We said good-bye to Grandma and Grandpa as they were leaving early Sunday morning.

Sunday was Mother's Day and it was the first day in a long time that my mom had all 4 of her kids together! We went to church just for Sunday School and then we went to the Blind Duck Inn for Mother's Day Brunch. We got her some neat things from the Pampered Chef. (Pictures to come...I left my camera at Carissa's)

We dropped Dad and Bri off at the airport and headed back to the house to say Good-bye to the boys. Bryce, Colton, Nate and Jose left that afternoon!

Let me tell you, after they all left, mom, Heston & I took a 3 hour nap! Phoebe was glad to have things back to normal as well.

Monday mom & I relaxed all morning then went to talk with some friends - Joe & Kelly Bolduc and then over to the Belfords! We stayed over at the Belford's and had grilled hamburgers - Yum! We had a nice spring walk and of course enjoyed our time with Carissa.

Mom had to leave on Tuesday =( but I will see her in 4 weeks when I go home while Heston is in Germany! That made saying good bye alot easier. Before she left we visited a few shops in town and then had lunch, coffee and dessert at Moose Jackson's.

I love my family so much and I was so glad to be able to spend time with them all!

Graduation

Saturday was graduation for my sister Brianne! Since I am on staff, Susan Wagar reserved us 10 seats so we didn't even have to go early to get seats! That was so nice! It was hard getting pictures of Brianne on stage, but Heston was able to video tape it. It was pretty chilly and a little bit rainy, but otherwise a good day! I am very proud of Bri. She leaves on Saturday to go to Woodland's camp in GA and then she leaves in September for Zambia Africa for 1 year to work with Phil Hunt and his family.

Friday Dad and Heston spent the morning hanging new blinds in all of the windows. Until we get curtains we needed something in the windows for security - it looks very nice! My mom helped my scrub my floor and got the "impossible" stains out - AMAZING!! What is it about mom's that can do those sorts of things?

Grandma & Grandpa Clingerman arrived Friday evening. We grilled shish kabobs and then headed to the spring concert. It was nice!

I had a wonderful time with my family. I picked up Mom & my sister Brianne from the Iron Mountain airport on Wednesday around 1. We had a wonderful lunch at The Garden Place which is a new eatery right by the library and Moose Jackson's in Iron Mountain. Then we went grocery shopping and headed home! It was so fun showing my mom my house! She liked it alot!

Thursday we had a huge rain storm with 60 mph winds! It was pretty scary...especially since dad was flying in and the boys were driving in. We lost electricity around 2:30 and then headed to campus so Bri could throw Kim Yager a bridal shower. We had a pretty good turnout in spite of the power outage and torrential down-pour! The guys all arrived safely while we were at the shower. The drive home was interesting since there were trees all over the road! We were still able to cook since we have a gas stove.


We had a good time talkign in front of the fire! Since the power was out, the water pump wasn't pumping water so we ran out of water - that was intersting! Thankfully the electricity went on about 10:30 p.m. which meant we had heat for the evening! Praise the Lord! It was pretty cold outside.

My Mom is Coming Today!!

I am having a hard time focusing this morning at work because my mom is coming at 12:30 today! I am so excited! My sister is also coming around 5 so we will have a girls day! I had so much fun getting the house ready for my mom to see for the first time. I have sent her pictures along the way, but she hasn't seen it in person yet. She said she has had a hard time picturing what it looks like! I AM SO EXCITED! Here is a picture of my mom with her two brothers...


My brothers are leaving today after work/school and driving through the night so they should be here around noon tomorrow. Then Dad flies in at 5:30 tomorrow evening. Then my dad's parents will be here on Friday sometime! My mom's parents are sad that they can't come, but since Granmda just had back surgery a few months ago, she is really not up to traveling 1100 miles whether it is by plane or car! We will miss them!

We are going to have a house full, but we will have so much fun! I heard rumors of having snow on Friday...hopefully that is what they were, RUMORS!

I will be sure to take lots of pictures and post them from time to time!

Good Weekend

We had a good weekend this past weekend. Heston played 2 soccer games this weekend: Northland Soccer team vs. Germany soccer team. They are getting in shape and prepared for their missions trip in June to Germany. He is a little bit sore, but he loved it! They also had their championship intramural B-B game on Saturday and his team one! Yeah!

I spent Friday and Saturday painting the trim in the 2 spare bedrooms and getting the rooms prepared for my family to come on Wednesday! It is great to have an incentive to get everything done. Saturday night, Heston asked me what else I wanted to get done. I told him that I wanted to finish the border in the kitchen. It was around 5:30 or so and I thought we could get it done pretty quickly...that was not true! We spend like 2 1/2 hours trying to get the border up. The paste was not sticking, the edges were curling. We could not figure out why the other walls we did had worked perfectly! That was until yesterday afternoon, I decided to look at the directions AGAIN only to realize we didn't give the border enough time out of the water for the paste to "activate"!! Wish I would have understood that on Saturday night. Well, now that we know that, we are going to try to put up the rest either tonight or tomorrow night before everyone gets here. Heston keeps telling me that everything doesn't need to get done before they come...I know that, but it doesn't change the fact that I want it all to get done!

We had a great day at church yesterday. Sunday school with the 2 and 3 year olds was fun as we talked about baby Moses. Then in the service, they had a baby dedication for all children 3 and under. I think Pastor was right, half of our church was up there! It was great to see a lot of the kids in our Sunday school class up there. One of the little girls in our Sunday School Class, Savannah, wanted to sit with Heston & I during the service. She enjoyed looking at her new Bible that the church gave all of the kids that were dedicated. We are going to miss her when they move this summer!

Then, we were able to go to lunch with our good friends, Kelly & Craig and their daughter, Camryn. Then back to church for the afternoon service. It was a service dedicated to those who are graduating, whether it was from kindergarten, high school, college, or master's degree. It was great to see all of those who have finished their degrees and also sad because many of them will be moving on.

We also officially became church member's yesterday. That was neat! We sang 2 of my favorite songs in church: Abba, Father and In Christ Alone. What a great time to put our focus back on the Lord Jesus Christ.

As Heston and I have prayed, we don't know what the Lord is teaching us through this time of dealing with our car and the financial strain that comes along with is, but we are seeking to learn the lessons that He has for us.

Please pray for Heston as he takes his final exams this week. He has worked so hard this semester and I am just praying that his grades reflect that.

Quote for the Day

This quote was in my inbox this morning and I thought I would share it:

God never promises to remove us from our struggles. He does promise, however, to change the way we look at them.

-- Max Lucado

How true that is! We think we have found a solution to our car situation. It is still not fun or ideal, but I think we have come up with the best option as of yet. We are still seeking counsel in what exactly to do. I will keep you posted! Thanks for your prayers and encouragement!

Two Praises!

I have two praises to share with you today. This morning, when I was getting dressed, I found $15 in the back pocket of my skirt! Later I was talking to some ladies in our prayer group and asked, "Who puts $15 in the back pocket of a skirt?" thinking that it was really odd that there was money there. Then as soon as I said it, I said "God does!" He blesses un in such small ways and I am so thankful to Him.

Second, I have been battling with my insurance company, dr. office, and perscription by mail company over a mix up in a perscription that my doctor wrote. The perscription that he wrote ended up costing my $50 more than what I normally pay! I was pretty upset that I was having to pay for his mistake! I called each of the above mentioned offices at least 5 times. I prayed that I would keep a good attitude with the Doctor's office especially since my dr. is a Christian and the nurses/receptionists know that I work at Northalnd. I got a call from a lady at the office just a few minutes ago saying that they were going to pay me the difference between the costs of the medications! Praise the Lord!

Even though our car situation is looming over us, I know God is still in control. Just look, he chose to bless us with $15 and a $50 return check. God is so good and He will always provide for our needs!

Thanks again for your prayers and I will continue to keep you posted!

"I tell you, if you are serious about wanting to be like Christ, He is going to put you in circumstances where your only true choice is to become like Him."
--Francis Frangipane

Update on the car

Well, the news is not good on our car. To fix it, the cost will be approximately $6,500. When we only spent $1,000 more than that to purchase the vehicle, it doesn't really even out. Please pray for us as we make decisions on what to do. I know we will lose money, but just pray that we will lose the least amount possible. We know the Lord is teaching us through this and I know someday we will know, but just pray for us. I am thankful that both of our dads are wise, Chrstiain men and have given us advice in what to do in this situation and in so many areas of our lives. We are very thankful for our fathers!