We're Still Kicking

Not much as changed with our lives being bizaaay lately, weeks go by and Mitch's work hrs are long still.  I was feeling ill a month ago and went to the dr a couple weeks ago just to make sure my thyroid, iron, blood sugar are all well.  The dr said I need to eat more often.  I can do that.  Iron good, thyroid good.  She thought my anxiety issues were from hormones and stress with Mitch's hours and if I need to look at where I'm at in my cycle and " not plan a big birthday party for my kids" during that time, then don't.  She didn't even know Isabelle's birthday, which we kept nice and quiet, had been a few days prior.  She said sometimes we ourselves or others put too high a standards on what it means to be a good mom and sometimes we freak out over little things we think are important.  I LOVE our dr!!!  I have been feeling better lately and I got winter clothes organized and put away so I am thankful for some strength because when you're going it alone till 6:30 5 days a week you need the strength let me tell you!!  We have, despite the long work hours, kept our weekends fairly quiet and planted a little garden and just enjoyed each other.  It's easy to forget that we had these kids to enjoy them and spend time with them.  I am trying to break away from my getter done mentality and take 10 minutes to play Frisbee or take the baby out in her swing.

So some kiddo updates are as follows,  Isabelle, turned 7!!!  We kept her birthday quiet with it being a weeknight and all, this also proved a good choice since she had run a 100 degree temp 3 days prior and wasn't fever free long enough to get to school till after her birthday.  Also this Saturday, we had a fun little girl's day and went shopping, she tried on swimsuits and we ate at Olive Garden and she decided that day she wanted her ears pierced.  I had always told her she could when she is ready or never if she never was ready.  She kept insisting, I painted a realistic, cartilage puncturing picture.  I told she can't leave with just one done, and she doesn't have to at all.  " can I get ice cream if I hold still??"  I told her NO if you can't hold still you aren't ready for them.  So she was determined and she hugged the bear at Claire's and said after the first earring " just give me a second" as she pulled back some tears and we proceeded with the other ear.  She was pretty excited about it.  I so enjoyed my day with my daughter!!  She was an enjoyable real little person you could actually converse with and wasn't just work to bring along like kids are when they are younger.  She is growing way too fast!!
Christian, not much on him other than the fact that he is overdue for a bike and we need to get to the store, he rode his trike behind Isabelle on a walk and got going too fast down a hill and face planted in the cement.  We told him he needed a helmet, he said " why didn't you get me one??"  Because we thought you didn't need one on a trike... so he has a helmet now.  Another thing.  Mitch told me Christian was spelling words on the fridge and he told Mitch " I'm going to spell something inappropriate, how do you spell 'privates'?"  Mitch told him he was NOT going to be doing that.  Christian told him " well I already spelled 'Bum'"  and sure enough there it was, bum, on the fridge.

Baby Lovin Aliza, pulls up on everything, is a little imitator.  She makes kissing sounds when we kiss her, dances, signs" more "when a song ends and signs "all done."  She is snugglie and nestles her little head in my neck and sucks her thumb when she is tired or just because.  She cuddles and hugs stuffed animals and loves to nestle her forehead into yours.  She jabbers na na na, mamamama, dadada, yea yea, if you say shhhhh she makes a hiss sound, if you whisper she will whisper.  She hates getting dressed and bawls if you take something from her like her toothbrush or won't let her go outside.  She LOVES outside!!  She also loves messing up my laundry piles.  She has started the type of play where she like to give me something, then take it back and on and on. funny girl, she crawls around with her toys in her mouth, my little puppy. We started a little early on whole milk and she loves it.  She takes two good naps a day and sleeps from about 8-8 and it's nice not to have get up anymore.  I will put some pics up on shutterfly soon!!

Good Quotes People

"See to it that you fasten your attention on God's Word and stay in it, like an infant in a cradle. If you let go for one moment, you have fallen away from the truth. The one intention of the devil is to get people away from the Word and to induce them to measure God's will and works with their reason." ~ Martin Luther

"Peace if possible, Truth at all costs." Martin Luther

"Most of my ministry has been marked by helping fundamentalists escape the clutches of their own legalism. But what usually happens as fundamentalists come to understand the gospel of grace is that their journey from slavery to freedom takes an indirect route.



When fundamentalists begin to grasp the gospel, they tend to define its freedom in behavioral terms. So they start drinking beer in moderation or getting a piercing that was once considered taboo.


And yet, there is no substantive difference between this and being a full-blown fundamentalist because in both cases what is emphasized is external behavior over internal disposition. Before, their Christianity was determined by what they couldn't do; now it's determined by what they can. The rules that welcome you to the inside or keep you on the outside have changed, but it's exactly the same game. Like the difference between “Duck, Duck, Goose” and “Duck, Duck, Grey Duck.” Does it really matter whether the person who has to get up and chase the other kid around the circle is called a “goose” or a “grey duck”? Different rules, same game. It's simply a new fundamentalism, and one that is just as strident, just as shrill, and just as puffed up with smug superiority as the old fundamentalism, except instead of saying, “Ugh! Can you believe that they listen to rock music?” you say, “Ugh! Can you believe that they don’t listen to rock music?” It's exactly the same game." ~ Bob Glenn

" I thought I had come a long way from my high school legalistn until I watched the professor put my life on the board.
He drew a line that angled uphill: "Many evangelical students see their life as a progression from legalism of their youth to more mature Christianity that stresses issues of the lifestyle and justice and explores authentic Christianty .  It appears that they have moved forward"  Then he drew a ciricle and wrote " legalism", "simple lifestyle", "freedone to drink" and " issues of justice" at different points. " They move along, but they are not going anywhere.  They just change one means of judging themselves superior for another." ~ Mark Baker quoted by Chapel in Holiness By Grace

All I Have is Christ.wmv

Those Pics

Check out Shutterfly for those pics I said I would post. :)

Blogging??

I have been neglectful of the blog.  Things are busy and life can be draining.  Mitch has been working 50 hr weeks for the past 3-4 weeks, I'm losing track.  We are almost weaned and hormones are spazing.  Thankfully the Lord provides strength for all He sets before us.  It's amazing how in wearisome times, whether they be sprititually, mentally, physcially, or all of the above as they have been lately that fellowship with Christ has been most sweet and His word very precious, as well as the kindred spirits that encourage us in truth.  This also makes me randomly thankful for a church and preaching that is continually encouraging, biblical and outside of the box of the churchy presuppositions so many of us grew up in, and it's almost like the sermon is in keeping with what is going on in our lives and what we are working through learning from the Lord.  Anyhow, encouraging.
Also, my little man turned 5 April 8th and I WILL post pics soon!  He was so excited and his favorite gift I belive was his bumble bee pillow pet ( yes yes I know). Daddy, searched high and low for the bumble bee.  Christian continues to be a sweet little boy that just loves to chat and have attention and he has gotten more rough and wrestling with Isabelle, which I find annoying. :)  He loves to learn how and why things work, like things in the body.  He adores his daddy.  He has been spelling words on the fridge.  He'll show me me words like, rug and box, those little 3 letter words. 
I have finished Holiness By Grace this week.  One of my favorite books, EVER.  I may have to give that book it's own post.  Just check out quotes from it from my past posts, they should be labeled.

If our teaching of grace causes us to make light of sin, or to slight the requirements of the Savior, then we have really not understood either the monstrosity of our sin or the greatness of the heart that forgives it.
Grace overwhelms us with God's love, and as a result our heart resonates with the desires of God. His purposes become our own.....True grace produces joy and promotes godliness.  ~Holiness By Grace Bryan Chapel

"On all hands we hear cries for unity in this and unity in that; but in our mind the main need of this age is not compromise but conscientiousness, 'First pure, then peaceable.' It is easy to cry 'A confederacy,' but that union that is not based on the truth of God is rather a conspiracy than a communion. Charity by all means: but honesty also. Love of course, but love to God as well as love to men, and love of truth as well as love of union. It is exceedingly difficult in these times to preserve one's fidelity before God and one's fraternity among men. Should not the former be preferred to the latter if both cannot be maintained? We think so" ~Spurgeon

"Unity without verity [truth] is no better than conspiracy" Puritan John Trapp

Double Blessings

Unbelievable. from Daniel JD on Vimeo.
As many of you know, my littlest bro and his sweet wife made me an aunt last Friday!!  He said I could share this video that makes me cry everytime.  I can't even hardly talk about those sweet babies without getting choked up.  I wish so BADLY I could be sharing these precious moments with my family and hold those babies.  I had no idea I would love these babies so much and how much it would hurt to not be able to be there right away!!  It's amazing to see my ornery little brother as the doting father and watching Bethany being loving mama to her babies, she said she loves having twins!!  They have a long haul in front of them as they get the hang of caring for babies for the first time and my brother is working as a CNA and will be doing his nursing boards this spring.  No pressure. ;) so if you think of them, a prayer on their behalf would be much appreciated.
Oh baby love.  Need I say more.

Here We Go

Shut the basement door and put away the Legos!  We have a crawler!  Aliza has been almost crawling for a couple weeks and these past few days has gotten the hang of it.  She will be 10 months old this weekend!  She has been clapping her hands and dancing, can't remember if I posted that before.  She has also started self-weaning which is kind sad for mommy.  But you can't make a kid nurse, believe me, she is way too interested in other thing than staring at my chest.  She started getting distracted at 4 months.  I am hoping to spend little or nothing on formula as I have many samples and coupons and stored up milk in the freezer.  She does nurse like a champ at night, IN the night.   YES.  My name is Audrey and I have an almost 10 month old that routinely gets me up once a night to nurse.  There, I said it, I would've called this bad parenting but this kid is so darn easy I have chosen to fight this battle after she turns one, then I can be kept up for a few nights with a screaming baby as we have a battle of wills.  UGH, still praying in anticipation for wisdom on this because I am stumped.  She also is cutting her top four teeth, they are coming in every other instead of in pairs, weird, hope none are missing. :)  AND her stats from her 9 month apt are as follows : height 27 inches=23%,15.9 lbs=4% head 17.2 in= 35%.  So we have dropped on the charts, Isabelle dropped at this age too in weight from 50 to 15% I also read that breastfed babies can drop a little on the charts at this point. The dr wants to make sure she is getting lots of food and snacks and tested her iron which is fine.  Mom and Dad were here this weekend and mom thought her little leggies were fat and cute. 

 I miss my mommy..anyway, she crawls, but won't roll from her back.  It's so odd, so I've been helping her to roll some, ( my own imposed physical therapy lol)she is getting used to the sensation. :)  Tis all for now, I have added pics to shutterfly.