My Oldest

I will apologize ahead of time for the length of this post but it is so cool!

Jared is pretty much like your average 14 year old. He likes to hang out with his friends, listen to his iPod, talk/txt on his cell phone, MySpace and tends to roll his eyes from time to time. But he continues to amaze me how well he is handling this rollercoaster ride called "teenager". He is 2 weeks into his freshman year of high school and seems to have a handle on balancing his heavy load of school work, his intense love and commitment to cross country and, sometimes unsettling to me, a girlfriend. But over the last 2 weeks I've noticed something different about him. He has a new desire to follow Christ and lead by example. He has started a weekly blog on his MySpace completely dedicated to Christ, the bible and teaching his friends more about both. Below is this weeks' blog. It's a little long but I am amazed at his boldness and desire to share the love of God with his friends. I am so blessed and proud to be his mom!

Here is his blog for this week:

Being a Christian 101: Week 1
Hey guys. For the next four weeks, we will be starting a new series called "Being a Christian 101", which includes what being a Christian means, how to become one, and what rewards you will reap when you become one. And also, you'll need a Bible if you're following along.
Being a Christian 101 – The Background of Sin and What a Sin Is.
First, if you are serious about becoming a Christian, you need to learn sin's background and how sin came about. I will be reading a passage from Genesis 3 (this is the part where you'll need you're Bible) If you don't have one, it's OK. Just follow along
Genesis 3:1-5
(1) Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, "Did God really say 'You must not eat from any tree in the garden'?"
(2) The woman said to the serpent, "We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, (3) but God did say, 'You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.'"
(4) "You will not surely die," the serpent said to the woman. (5) For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.
This is the first ever temptation in the history of humankind. God told Adam and Eve to stay away from this tree, and the serpent comes in and tempts them to eat this fruit. Sure enough, their eyes were opened, and they had committed the first ever sin. See, God gave them a command, and they disobeyed it, which is what a sin is. The world was perfect before they sinned and after, they brought sin into the perfect world. If they had obeyed God in the first place, we would be living in a perfect world right now. After they had disobeyed God, he punished them (including the serpent) and banished Adam and Eve out of the Garden of Eden. Basically, Adam and Eve lead the way for all of us

Let's skip to Exodus 20:3-17, which is the Ten Commandments.
You shall have no other gods before me.
You shall not make yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments.
You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God for the Lord will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name.
Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your manservant or maidservant, nor your animals, nor the alien within your gates. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. There fore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.
Honor your father and mother, so that you may live long in the land the Lord your God is giving you.
You shall not murder.
You shall not commit adultery.
You shall not steal.
You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor.
You shall not covet your neighbor's house. You shall not covet your neighbor's wife, or his manservant or maidservant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.

These are the main layouts of sin. Of course there are thousands of sins to commit, but they all stem from the Ten Commandments. There will be a series on the Ten Commandments later, but for right now, my message is over. Have a good week, and God bless you.


Next week: God's Love and "The Good Shepard"

My First Day School & More

I have to say it was weird being back at college. And I was definitely the oldest person in my A&P lab but I think there was one other lady about my age in my lecture. But I didn't feel as awkward as I thought I would. For the most part, my first day went smoothly with just a few minor glitches.

Those of you who see me on a daily basis already know how crazy our life is. But for my friends in bloggerland I thought I would share a typical week in our household. :) I am in no way trying to "outdo" my blogging friends in any way. But I noticed that the theme for the week was back to school and our schedules. Just know that you all are not alone in the chaos!

Here's a rundown of our week:
4 kids in 3 different schools
7 cross country practices
3-5 soccer practices
1 (soon to be 2) ice hockey practices
2 soccer games
2-4 cross country meets
class for me - 3 times a week plus a 3 hr. lab once a week
2 softball games (my big kid)
and most weekends are full with either cross country meets, soccer games or travelling for ice hockey tournaments. And if we're lucky we'll get atleast 2 kids in the same city/state!

Oddly enough, Wednesday night at church they are starting a series on parenting. I wonder if they will talk about cloning...I could really use another "ME". :)

On a more serious note: I'd like to ask you all to pray for me b/c I have had some serious issues with time management lately and I REALLY need to get better at this...quick!

I hope you all have a great week! :)

I'm a college student!

Ok, so I've been one all summer. I took two classes online over the summer and let me just say, I'm so glad that's over! But it seems more of a reality now...I went on campus Wednesday and got my parking tag, student ID, and books. Big, heavy, expensive books (I'm taking Human Anatomy & Physiology I) I'm looking forward to it but also very nervous. It's been a long time since I've had to go to class and it will be so weird sitting in a room with people who are almost half my age!!! Let the fun begin!

My little girl...

...isn't little anymore! :( As I type, Kelsey is at her first MIDDLE SCHOOL DANCE!!! For some reason that freaks me out a little bit. The time has flown by and now she is one short year away from being a teenager. Yikes! She is such a sweet, smart, and witty young lady. Of course, there are times she drives me crazy and I'm sure there are more of those times coming. But I thank God for the opportunity to have her as my daughter. She is such a blessing!

She's ready to go!

Last night, Jared and I had our "date" night. We went to Chili's for dinner (his choice), then we headed to Dick's Sporting Goods for some cross country gear. After that we went to the mall and then to finish off the night...a stop at Dairy Queen. Oreo Blizzard...mmmmm...yum! Jared has become quite the comedian so the night was filled with LOTS of laughter. I'm so glad that he's not completely embarrassed to be seen in public with me...atleast, not yet! :)

Camping Trip

We have been tent campers for several years now. But with such a large family and the kids getting bigger, we decided to buy a pop-up camper. We are hoping to have more opportunity to camp now that we have a camper with a/c and heat.

A couple of weekends ago we took our new camper and went camping with my brother-in-law, sister-in-law and their two boys. It was pretty hot but thank goodness for a/c in the camper! :) We rented a pontoon boat on Saturday and had a great time. The kids spent a couple of hours just jumping off of the boat into the lake. We are hoping to go again sometime soon and get lots of use out of this new camper.

Back to School & More

Malcolm & Aaron

We spent this past weekend at Aaron's last inline hockey tournament in Knoxville. They played some great games and their team came in 2nd place! We've wrapped up inline just in time to start travel ice hockey! :)

Sarah, Aaron & Kelsey

It seems like we had the shortest summer in history! But the kids are back to school and really like their teachers. Jared is a freshman in high school, Kelsey is in 6th grade at the middle school, Aaron is a 4th grader and Sarah is in 2nd grade. Here are pics of them yesterday - their first day of school. **Note: Jared is "too cool" to have his pic made! :)**

We got a letter yesterday from the ESL teacher at school saying that Sarah is fully English proficient and that she will no longer attend ESL class everyday. She will only go periodically to be monitored for progress! She may not follow directions well but she knows her English!! :)

It's Official...

I am now officially a "Blogger In Training" for the U.S. Blogging Team!!! :)
Thanks Verna!

Made you laugh

My blogging friend, Verna, challenged me to update my blog 5 out of 7 days and start with a "Made you laugh" pic. So, in honor of Nashville traffic I thought this was appropriate! :)

Jared driving????

I can't even begin to describe how weird it is to be talking about my oldest child driving. But in about 8 months Jared will have his permit!!!! So, lock your doors and make sure all small children are in the safety of their homes because my son will be behind the wheel!!!

As scary as this idea is for me, John decided to let him have a small "taste" of driving last weekend. We were preparing to leave for our camping trip and John let Jared back up his car and pull it into the garage. John is recovering nicely from his mild case of whip lash. :)

All joking aside, Jared did a great job at his first time behind the wheel. And, of course, I was there to capture this scary...I mean...monumental "first".