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Have you ever prayed for something for a long time with no real answer? 

Have you ever felt God leading you down a road just to find He wasn't? 

Maybe this is your life anthem? 

My life is blessed. 

I have almost everyone of my life's desires. 

Not everyone can say that. Most cannot. 

Even most in this land of excess country that we live in. 

And I am well aware of that. 

But of course, there are things that I want answers to. 

Things that make me lose sleep over. 

Things that I question God about. 

Things that I think...why? Why would You be silent right now? 

How can I trust You when I cannot clearly see Your plan? 

I stumbled upon this right when I needed to: 

'And, if not, He is still good.'

After pouting and complaining, I was reminded. 

Its not my place to question or worry. 

No matter His answer, His silence, His direction...

He is good. 

This quote comes from Daniel 3. 

Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego were about to be THROWN INTO A FIERY FURNACE. 

And how did they respond to King Nebuchadnezzar?

'If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to deliver us from it, and he will deliver us from Your Majesty's hand. BUT EVEN IF HE DOES NOT, we want you to know. Your Majesty, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of god you have set up."

Daniel 3:17-18

These three were following God down a road He led them...probably it made no sense to them. 

They may have asked, 'Why? Why are you leaving us in this god-forsaken empire? why are you silent? why are we slaves? why are you not answering? How are we supposed to serve you when we are unsure of where to go next?'

Yet, they were willing to be thrown into the fire for Him. 

And they believed He would rescue them...BUT EVEN IF HE DID NOT...

My faith is small in comparison. 

My faith is weak. 

It's hard to trust Him in the 'And, if nots'...

But hard doesn't make Him change.

Hopefully, it does change me. 

(if you do not know the ending to these three's story go read all of Daniel 3...the ending, as usual, is the best part.)

Bonding

These two Do. Not. Get. Along. 

They are too close in age and too competitive. 

To be fully fair, its 99% Avery's fault. 

She is impatient and annoyed with him constantly. 

And Sully is, well, Sully. 

But they've discovered something to make them bond. 

Minecraft. 

Yep. 

They are both obsessed with it. 

And Sullivan got a set of books for his birthday and they've been pouring over them. 

Discussing strategy and working together to figure things out. 

There's still a lot of eye rolling and annoyance.

But I'll take what I can get. 

Minecraft, I love you. 

Little Teacher

Homeschooling had been harder on Torrance this year than previously.

She doesnt have her playmate Contessa...and the rest of us are busy most of the day. 

We try to include her but a lot of it, obviously, she could care less about. 

Overall she's so good at playing beside us but somedays she DEMANDS attention. 

On this day she insisted that she be the teacher. 

She read Chronicles of Narnia to Avery and Sullivan for the longest time. 

And I think I got about the cutest picture possible. 

I love her. 

Valentines Day!

Just a few Valentines pics...

opening gifts from Grandma

And the surprise my husband prepared for me that night. 

And Falstaff trying to hone in on my Valentines action...

Sullivan is NINE!

Sullivan turned NINE on February, 11th. 

He loves his birthday. 

And I love that! 

And we love him so much. 

Celebrating him is fun and easy. 

He's all about that green and navy! 

And football cards!  

Mandy made him his dream birthday cake. 

He was so happy with it. 

 On Friday he got to have a sleepover. 

I was literally nervous...but they did awesome. 

They were polite and did exactly what they were told. 

And were asleep by 12:30. 

There was a lot of Wii action. 

Some Minecraft.

And a ton of basketball...in my dining room. 

Miraculously, nothing was broken. 

Make a wish! 

The next day Avery and I left for a volleyball tournament before the sun was up. 

So that left Jordan to see the boys off and then clean up the aftermath. 

I cannot even imagine. 

I left in the dark so I didnt have to see it. 

But that man of mine cleaned the entire day. 

:)

skiing

Jordan and I both enjoyed snow skiing in our 'younger days'. 

Jordan still enjoys it...I however have developed a healthy dose of fear and appreciation for two working legs. 

However, it is something I want my kids to enjoy so I shoved my fear aside and agreed when Jordan wanted to take the 3 older kids on a ski trip. 

We went last week and it timed out perfectly to be a fun get away for Sullivan's birthday at the same time. 

We left the little girls in the capable hands of grandma and headed to Galena for 2 days. 

On the first day they got a lesson...a little intimidating to figure this all out. 

All three of them caught on faster than we would have imagined. 

Avery, who lacks any sense of fear, was instantly zooming away from us. 

But Lauren and Sullivan were soon to follow. 

This picture may go down as one of my favorites of all time. 

Sullivan had fallen. 

Lauren went to help him. 

Somehow they both got completely tangled and I stood at the top taking a picture. 

Great mom. 

That night we enjoyed showing the kids Galena and supper together. 

It was nice to have time with the older three. 

Big kids are FUN! 

The next morning Jordan and I strapped on skis as well. 

This 'conveyor belt' was to get back up the bunny slope. 

I bit it getting on...embarrassing...like they had to shut it off so I could get up. 

Pretty sure my kids were pretending not to know me. 

We had a gorgeous 2 days. 

The second day was windy but over all we were warm and smiling! 

 During a break we took sometime to play cards in the lodge. 

Avery was disgusted with us for some reason...this is a typical 'Avery look'. 

Also, a typical 'Sully look'. 

On his bday no less! 

And a typical 'Im a teenager look'. 

Jordan and I even watched them from inside the lodge for awhile...aw, life with big kids!  

I am excited for more family ski trips! 

new specs

Sullivan recently had to get glasses. 

He wasn't thrilled with the idea. 

He was sharing this with our beautician while he was getting a hair cut and telling her he was going to look nerdy. She bet him that he would not and promised him a treat if he came in and showed her the new look when the glasses came in. 

So in he went...and she had cooked up the best surprise for him. 

Really, so very sweet! 

He was beyond excited. 

Small town life is pretty amazing. 

my birthday

A couple weeks back I celebrated a birthday. 

Not one withe a zero...yet. 

I was spoiled with a day off...

a hair color with my favorite Kate!

And lunch AND supper out with my love. 

We had the best time that night.

We arrived home pretty late to discover what my friends had done while I was away, besides helping out with my kids! 

Honestly, do I have the best friends or what? 

 I cant even imagine the amount of time all these balloons took to blow up! 

However, I quickly realized this was not that sweet...but rather mean. 

;)

There were hundreds of balloons. 

Stuck to EVERYTHING. 

He was not amused.  

Balloons everywhere. 

Really, it was a wonderful birthday and I felt so very loved! 

Like mother, like daughter...

It's update the blog time...

Well start with some fun at Torrance's expense. 

When I was little I wrote with permanent marker all over a wall, a table and a dining room chair. 

It should probably be noted the table and chair were new. 

Oops. 

Tori is proud of being able to write her name. 

A little too proud. 

My bathroom door. 

I called her in and asked who did it. 

She blamed Contessa. 

Mmmmhmmm...

Next she learned the beauty of the magic eraser.