2010

I remember years ago, Kris and I would talk about our kids growing up and look to the future and think..."those things are SO far away". Well the first one is upon us. "2010" This is the year Nate graduates from HIGH SCHOOL. I thought this year sounded so far away and now it is here. I can't believe he is old enough to graduate and that his WHOLE future is stretching before him. The wishes I have for my oldest son are these. As he goes into the world, with out the aid of his parents, that he will make wise choices. That he will remember what it feels like to have the companionship of the Holy Ghost with him and that he will continue to desire to pray, read his scriptures and be the amazing young man that he is today. Really, even stating that he is a "young" man is not adequate. He is a man. He is capable of making decisions, working, studying etc. Does he really need our "permission" anymore? Not really. Does he ask for it? Yes, he does and in a very kind manner, I might add. Nate is a man, but he will always be in my heart. I will always see that blonde headed little boy with big hazel eyes. The one who would sing "there was an old man in the middle of the woods" and the one who had to have a "cruck" (toy car) with him at all times, even sleeping. I love him and I am SO excited to see where he goes, what he does and how he prepares himself for the things the Lord has in store for him.
Before you know it, those milestones creep upon you, the years you didn't think would ever get here, "DO" and they come quickly!
May your 2010 be joyous, full of love, one for another, peaceful and prosperous

A season of Miracles

I feel like I am finally starting to emerge from the deep fog that has encompassed not only my head, but my whole soul. I do NOT like being in that place where depression creeps in, where despair, if given a chance, will smother out HOPE. I have seen in the past 7 weeks absolute MIRACLES in our behalf. Let me list a few. Those of you who have not felt it in a while, please know that Heavenly Father has his hand in your life. He knows of your every need. He requires only that you talk to him. I know that because of our faithfulness and our obedience, swift blessings have been put in our path. First. When Kris came home and told me he had lost his job, my friend Jana told me that we could live in her parents house for a very inexpensive price. The house we had been renting was beautiful but was proving to be VERY COLD in the oncoming winter weather. There was ice on the insides of the upstairs windows and no heat vents in the master bedroom or in the boys room. We literally had cold air from outside blowing through the window closest to our bed and on our heads at night. I was always so cold. So being in this house has been such a miracle and blessing of warmth and coziness. We are very blessed. Second, we have in the very moment of literally being down to our last 5$ had cash placed into our hands and always in just the amount we needed. That happened twice and those events were great miracles!! We have felt the peace and have known that we were being carried by prayers and cradled in the arms of our Heavenly Father as we had people put our family name on the prayer roles in the temple. We have felt the prayers of our friends and family buoy us up. And our sweet and amazing Bishop has been so caring in his counsel and wisdom. For that I have been extremely grateful as well. So as hard as this has been and such a kick in the gut type of thing, I am CANNOT over look the hand of my Heavenly Father in everything that has been put in our path. We have even had miracles in the form of being able to provide Christmas for our kids as well. What great blessings. I would like to share a thought from Elder Richard G Scott. This really helped me get through this growth experience.
"May I share some suggestions with you who face...the testing that a wise Heavenly Father determines is needed even when you are living a worthy, righteous life and are obedient to His commandments. Just when all seems to be going right, challenges often come in multiple doses applied simultaneously. When those trials are not consequences of your disobedience, they are evidence that the Lord feels you are prepared to grow more (see Proverbs 3:11-12). He therefore gives you experiences that stimulate growth, understanding, and compassion which polish you for your everlasting benefit. To get you from where you are to where He wants you to be requires a lot of stretching, and that generally entails discomfort and pain" (in CR, Oct. 1995, 18;).
- Elder Richard G. Scott
May EACH of YOU recognize the miracles in your life and weather the storms with grace and faith most importantly HOPE!
We love you and wish you a joyous holiday season!
Kris, Cheryl, Nate, Nick and Caitlyn and Zeus and Zoe! (the dogs)

December

This past month and into December has been an absolute blur. I am so very tired. About 5 weeks ago, Kris went into work and was told they were going in a different direction due to finances with the company and that he was no longer needed. On top of that, was given about 15 minutes to leave the office. WOW, was that ever a shock and we didn't see if coming. We are both still a bit baffled but are emerging out of the fog and confusion, depression etc that has encompassed us the past 5 weeks. In my heart I think...lets go home. Lets get the heck out of here and go home. But alas, we need a job there, to go home too. :) If you know of anything, let us know. In the meantime, Kris is applying all over the country. He has had a phone interview in Prove, Utah, Louisville, KY and near Richmond, VA. We will see what happens. I am going to start subbing up here as soon as my fingerprinting gets done which is next saturday. Kris has an interview with a local company here on Wednesday.
So please forgive me for not posting for a while. I have had absolutely NO desire to do so. So often feelings of failing and inadequacy have plagued me. Just keep us in your prayers please!!
Love to all!

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Halloween 2009

I thought I would take a moment to post pics of our first Halloween in maine.
When the kids would come to our door, you could hear them exclaim "we get to go to the fog house" We bought another fog machine, so we had two going this year. With the haunted music and the strobe lights it gave quite the erie feeling to our old house!
Zombie Caitlyn shows off her cool eyelashes
And then she guts her pumpkin
We had bought pumpkins way early this year and thought they would last until halloween to carve, but no. They were pretty squishy so we just let them be. We did buy some cute "fake" pumpkins though
The front steps
oooh, fog
Our little graveyard out front. Kris carved out the skull head and put a strobe light up inside and it flashed amongst the tombstones.
We were told that we would have LOTS of trick or treaters living where we did, but we did not, so we ended up with like 300 pieces of candy left over. That is alot. Caitlyn and Nick went out and did a little trick or treating. Caitlyn and her friends ended up getting caught in a monstrous rainstorm that came out of nowhere...we went to pick them up and found them waiting by the funeral home in town..what a place to be waiting on Halloween night~

The First SNOWFALL

Can you believe it? I was upstairs cleaning and came out of my room and into Caitlyns when I notices white things floating around in the sky. It couldn't be, I thought to myself....NO...IT IS NOT SNOWING!!!!!! Not yet....ITS ONLY OCTOBER. We haven't even had Halloween yet. I don't have all the leaves raked up yet....I don't have sub zero antifreeze in the car yet....
But low and behold, there it was in all its glory and splendor, the first snow fall of the season. Now,I know this is NOT the last snowfall and we are just getting started, but wow. I am so not ready for this. But here it is..enjoy!

Choose This Day

Choose This Day

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