CH CH CH CHANGES...

We've been having a lot of CHANGES goin' on ROUND HERE TODAY!

CHANGE #!...

Jamie offered to babysit the kids when she came in town this weekend to visit her parents for MDay. The Captain is KNEE-DEEP in planting soybeans right now and there was just no way for him to get away. SO..I took "T" out on a date to eat and shop. We closed down TJ MAXX, GORDMAN'S AND TARGET! We ended our night with some apple dippers and fries from McDonalds. We did a LOT of giggling! I'll share my bargains in a later post :)

Here we are ALL GUSSIED UP in our WAL-MART DRESSES READY 2 GO on our date!
Mine $14-T's $3 clearance 2 years ago.

Here we are at Panera Bread. T-with her MANGO SMOOTHIE and me with my ICED MOCHA!CHANGE #2...


Summer time for my boys means butchering... I MEAN...Mama DOES THEIR HAIR CUTS! All with a $5 kit from DOLLAR GENERAL! I figure if I mess up, it'll grow back right??? BEAN-the FIRST VICTIM...

BeforeAFTER

Change #3.....

BYE BYE BIRDIES! Our baby chicks ARE NO LONGER CUTE (and they stink up my garage)!! SO, my friend Deb and her daughter Liz came and took 10 of the 12 chickens to raise and then BUTCHER. I asked her if I could come and watch and she said "sure." Although I know I COULD NEVER KILL MY FRIEND-whether he tastes good or not! But it would be kind of cool to see her do it-I know I'm twisted.

So we have 2 hens that will be DOING THEIR THING and laying eggs hopefully in a few months (if they survive the dogs that is)!Change #4......

My My is NO LONGER AFRAID OF bugs, frogs or creepy crawlies! She was the only one of the 4 littles to BRAVE catching this frog today! SHE WAS SO PROUD OF HERSELF and her new friend "LUCY." Why "LUCY" you ask?

(if you look closely at Lucy's little front right hand-it is pressed up against the window just BEGGING for help!)When The CAPTAIN told her that we would have to let the frog LOOSE, this was the NO!!!! reaction followed by tears and her saying "I DON'T WANT TO LET HER LOOSEY." Then she smiled and said "that's it, I'll call her LUCY." Get it? CHANGE #5...THE ONE THAT BRINGS TEARS>>>>>

As I was shaving Bean and Bit But's heads, Our sweet little WY WY begged for a haircut. He goes to the same stylist I do, we have always been SO PROUD OF HIS HAIR. Let's face it, God gave the boy good hair! SO..I made the call to THE CAPTAIN (remember he's on tractor planting beans) and he gave the GO AHEAD.Here he is 1/2 way through the cut.He was itching from all the hair so I rinsed him off in the shower and VOILA!!!His baby curls are gone *sniff sniff*. He can still be a CHRISTIAN COUNTRY MUSIC ROCK STAR with short hair right?CHANGE #6....

Meet Kure. She has the same EXACT birthday/year as our little MY MY. For Mother's Day, I asked THE CAPTAIN if we could sponsor an ETHIOPIAN child through WORLD VISION for 1 year. THIS IS THE BEST GIFT I could ask for. My heart is with the orphan, it's INGRAINED In my SOUL.

Kure is 4 and has lost both parents to AIDS. She & 2 other siblings are cared for by her older teen brother. The $35 a month we send will help with food, shelter, medicine, school and all her basic needs. We will also be sending her LOTS of letters!

Praying you all have a FABULOUS and BLESSED Mother's Day! I have some surprises in store for my kids-I'll tell ya' later :)

SHOW YOUR PIGGIES TODAY!

Join us in going barefoot today..A DAY WITHOUT SHOES!

• Fact #1: In some developing nations, children must walk for miles to food, clean water and to seek medical help.
• Fact #2: Cuts and sores on feet can lead to serious infection.
• Fact #3: Often, children cannot attend school barefoot.
• Fact #4: In Ethiopia, approximately one million people are suffering from Podoconiosis, a debilitating and disfiguring disease caused by walking barefoot in volcanic soil.
• Fact #5: Podoconiosis is 100% preventable by wearing shoes.

ONE FOR ONE Buy 1 pair of TOMS SHOES-they give a pair to a needy child!

Winner of PAY IT FORWARD!

Congrats to Tina at REALITY CHECK!

You won the PAY IT FORWARD GIVEAWAY!

We did a VERY TECHNICAL-"name in the hat process" and MY MY picked YOU!The first think you won is Arbonne Sea Salt Scrub-THIS STUFF IS LIKE BUTTER! Use this to scrub your bod and it saves you a step..WHY? You don't need lotion after you use it...EVEN IN THE WINTER!! LOVE IT! #2- 1 lb of GOBENA ETHIOPIAN COFFEE-Drink this coffee-feed an orphan.

It's A WIN WIN!-Email me with your address and I'll mail it out sister!

Speaking of coffee-we've got A LOT BREWING in our house-pray for us!

AND DON'T FORGET TO DO THE PAY IT FORWARD GIVEAWAY ON YOUR BLOG!

I now have 101 followers so I think I need to do a giveaway for that.

STAY TUNED!

Me & ANGELINA JOLIE!!!

There is only one way that I wanna be like her. CAN YOU GUESS?

AND just when you thought you couldn't afford to adopt internationally!

My good friend HO HO has hooked me up with some SUPER AWESOME NEWS! For those of you who have dreamed of adopting from China, Ethiopia, Russia & Kazakhstan. Some of the adoptions are COMPLETELY FREE (YES FREE) and some are only $5,000. Please go to WACAP and check it out. I have talked to a woman who had a successful and wonderful adoption and has her daughter home from Ethiopia.

I know it's DEFINITELY got my wheels spinning!

WHY YOU SHOULD..................................

The main reason is this...

BY 2010, between 25 MILLION and 50 MILLION African children from newborn to age 15 will be orphans.

The Christians need to take a STAND for these children! We ARE responsible to act!

Red, Yellow, Black & White...ALL precious in HIS SIGHT.

Will you take a risk? Step out of your comfort zone? Out of your spoiled life to help one of these who needs you? God did it for you..its YOUR TURN. He IS a father to the fatherless...

A father to the fatherless, a defender of widows, is God in his holy dwelling. God sets the lonely in families, he leads forth the prisoners with singing... Psalm 68: 5&6

CMV-EBV...THE VIRUSES...

The pictures below are of the 2 viruses the oldest MAY HAVE. The lab work is not back yet. She was released last night with strict orders to stay in bed for 1 week. She will go back to the Dr. on Monday after having her liver function tests re-checked. The first one may be Epstein-Barr Virus (the virus that causes mono) Which apparently most of us have had by age 40. The second one is cytomegalovirus which is very similar. The thing we have to make sure is that she lay low, stay hydrated and repeat her labs.

The great thing about being friends with Isaiah's mom is that she knew exactly what the problem was since she is an EXPERT on the liver with all Isaiah has been through-she helped ease my mind.

Thank you all for your love, care and prayers! And thank you to my parents for rushing to my side to help while The Captain is away. The oldest REFUSED any photos at this time on the blog-I don't blame her.

PS-I enjoyed reading (for the first time in a while) and almost finished "THERE'S NO ME WITHOUT YOU." EXCELLENT READ! Makes me want to board a plane to ETHIOPIA RIGHT NOW!

FIRST GIVEAWAY-YAY!

This is my first official giveaway!

It's in honor of my 104th post!

Seems like yesterday when I had NO CLUE what a blog even was! LOVE the blogging community! God has lead SO MANY friends to me!

I've been SO EXCITED and anxiously awaiting this little gift below to give to one of YOU...my faithful or sporadic bloggy readers!
Isn't it boxed so adorably? It will be a surprise to the winner!
My new friend Beki-has the most adorable stuff! She just made me this necklace and I LOVE IT! It's reversible-she also made the winners surprise!



















There are only 2 requirements for this giveaway. THEY'RE EASY!

#1 You must leave a comment on this post by Friday, Feb 20th at 11pm.

#2 You must promise to share the following quotes/facts with 2 people....

Every 10 seconds, one person dies of AIDS and another 2 are infected. A total of 3 million people die each year from AIDS. This staggering number has been compared to 20 fully loaded Boeing 747 airplanes crashing every single day for an entire year.

"WILL American Christians stand by as an entire continent dies?" ---Bono from U2

Halfway around the world..there is a little boy or girl who is desperately in need of your compassion.

Less than 3 percent of evangelical Christians said they would help a Christian organization minister to an AIDS orphan.

"In the poor we meet Jesus in HIS most distressing disguises."--Mother Theresa

"You can throw up your hands in despair (about the sheer numbers of children suffering)...OR you can roll up your sleeves and get to work."-Larry Jones, co-founder-Feed The Children

How do we get our arms around 15 million children orphaned by AIDS? It is not impossible. There are 350,000 Evangelical churches in America. If every church in America sponsored 42 African AIDS orphans, we literally could SAVE THEIR LIVES!

"THE HIV/AIDS pandemic is the greatest opportunity for the Church to be the Church. It is time for us to be the hands and feet of Jesus to those who need compassion." -----------------RICK WARREN

* There are 4.8 million orphans in Ethiopia.

- " In 2005, Ethiopia had 1,563,000 AIDS orphans, the second-highest concentration of such children in the world; and 4,414,000 orphans from all causes, the second-highest number in the world."

Being unwanted, unloved, uncared for, forgotten by everybody -- I think that is a much greater hunger -- a much greater poverty than the person who has nothing to eat. ~Mother Teresa

Isaiah 1:17 says, “Learn to do good; seek justice, reprove the ruthless, Defend the orphan, plead for the widow.” God is commanding us to care for the orphan!

“Whoever receives a child in My name, receives Me.” Matthew 18:5

There are NO unwanted children in the world, satan wants them ALL.

No, you can't "save the world" but you CAN make a difference in the life of one child that will last for generations. Bringing the love of Jesus to even ONE of the least of these-it's what Jesus would want.-ME(Jen)

"Though it makes things tighter for us in this king size bed, our home, our vehicle, as well as our wallet, the little pressure we may feel does not even compare to the pressure these little ones are experiencing. I figure if I ever make a mistake in over-indulging this is a good one to make." --John Loux (friend adopting 2 special needs kids from Ukraine as I type)

What are you willing to suffer for the sake of a child?

Got ya thinking huh? Good luck on the GIVEAWAY!

Toms and Pizza!

I only briefly got to talk to THE CAPTAIN late tonight & he was so tired so the details of the day didn't get shared. I am posting this info that may seem menial to you...For Him!

THE HIGHLIGHTS
Woke up to the phone ringing (7:30am)-Our new Auger (farmin equipment) is in. I had 3 in bed with me when I awoke 1 boy-2 girls.

The boys have the sniffles and Wy Wy swears his nose is "bleedin" but I tell him its just runny boogers.

All my sweats are low-rise so anytime I sit-Bit But promptly STICKS HIS FINGER IN MY CRACK and screams "POO POO!" and then runs away laughing.

I taught about meters, kilometers and such to Mr. Smearfritz and about Jesus and Romans to "T".

The oldest dropped by for a visit & surprised me with a diet Dr. P-that was nice.

3:30-do I have time to take a quick shower (I really stunk), dress and load 6 littles by the time I need to leave for piano lessons at 3:45? SURE I DO-lock bedroom door, shower, dress-load em all up and head to piano-call chiropractor to tell her I'm on my way and guess what? She left early today-never happened before. HOW DARE HER? I SHOWERED FOR HER! I Needed my body/sanity fix! Bit Bit fell asleep in car.

4-5pm-got gas, washed car and sat in piano teachers driveway.

We usually eat RIGHT AT 5pm but tonight it was 6pm-THREW MY WHOLE NIGHT OFF! Bit But slept in the car (yes in the car) until 6:15-we were all done eating by the time I finally woke him up. I had the doors open to garage and window down in vehicle people-CHILL!

Came home & tried a GREAT new recipe for BBQ chicken pizza and I doubled it as I do ALL recipes for this tribe-YUMMERS! Cooking dinner without Bit But hanging on my leg was a BREEZIO!

Mr. Smearfritz and I LOVE Jalepenos so our part had JAPS on it!You probably notice in most of my photos where there is food..there are paper plates. Why? If I did dishes for all we go through I'd have 3 loads a day.

Paper plates make it so I only have to run the dishwasher once a day.

Bit But slept in the car (yes in the car) until 6:15-we were all done eating by the time I finally woke him up. I had the doors open to garage and window down in vehicle people-CHILL!

Aw-Bell LOVES having her pic taken-here she is with "T"-Pizza LOVE!
After supper and kids cleaned up, we watched Jon & Kate whom the little ones call "their guys" and they slowly drifted to bed by 9pm.

Bit But went at 10:30 due to his extended late nap.

Then I got on-line and got THESE SHOES that I have been wanting for a while. They are Toms Shoes. Toms saying is "ONE FOR ONE"-for every pair you buy-a child in need will also get a pair-GOOD STUFF. Then I went to GOBENA COFFEE and got some of their Coffee that supports orphans in ETHIOPIA, Zambia, Ukraine and India. I have their link also on my side bar.

I figure If I can't adopt a child in Ethiopia right now, I will do all I can to support the causes of the orphans there. I feel my heart & God's voice pulling me there. One day....I pray.....

WITH ALL OF THAT SAID...I am Going to BED-hey I made a rhyme!

And as I do, I will be DREAMING OF HIM........

And praising God for all the wonderful gifts I have been given & praying for those in need.

"You hear, oh Lord, the desire of the afflicted; you encourage them and you listen to their cry, defending the fatherless and the oppressed" Psalms 10:17-18