cleaning

conversation between hunter & kamrie in the car tonight...

kamrie: is Jesus in your heart?
hunter: yeah, is he in yours?
kamrie: yeah.
hunter: what's he doing in there?
kamrie: cleaning.

psalm 51:2 wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin.

psalm 51:10 create in me a clean heart, o God, and renew a right spirit within me.

stress-free

i was talking to a good friend this morning at church & she mentioned the blog & i told her i just can't update it when i don't have positive things to say. we've had a bit of a stressful week at the dillan house. between job issues, illness, doctor's visits, things breaking down & just everyday life, mama feels stressed. when i feel stress i don't want to blog. now you know my little secrets. if there are no posts, i probably am under stress.

however, i also feel thankful. earlier this week i had the privilege of speaking to a friend who is going on a mission trip to kenya in the next few weeks. he emailed pictures of where he's headed. as i viewed the photos & saw the poverty & destruction i realize what luxury we live in. a little stress about the dishwasher, garage door & computer breaking down are so minor.

God also sent people to call me this week or visit me just when i needed it. i can count 7 for sure that had just the encouraging word i needed & weren't afraid to speak the truth to me in love.

i needed those gentle reminders & hugs.

imperial

what a sweet weekend we spent in imperial--actually only about 24 hours, but it was great nonetheless. i dropped papers off at our old house. what a strange feeling to park out front & walk up & ring the doorbell to our home for 5 years...

we got to spend the day with brad's folks yesterday & also some time with todd & sonja's family. this morning we got to worship with our cwc family. i am still in awe of how emotional it is for me to go back to visit the people we love & miss so much. i know the church there is/wasn't perfect but oh how i love those people! it's so awesome to see how they desire to serve the Lord in their jobs at church an in their every day lives.

we had small group at our house tonight. the kids & i have "kids' club" children's church downstairs while the adults are studying 1 john upstairs. actually kids' club isn't the official name, i'm still open to suggestions on that fact. we are blessed to have access to cwc's children's curriculum "berry blast theme park" & are studying the fruits of the spirit. even cooper was saying the bible point tonight "faithfullness: i will do what i say i will do!" thanks for the fruit & materials sonja & cwc! we have fruit hanging from the ceiling downstairs.

love/hate relationship

this is between me & my computer. today it has been a hate relationship. harsh words but too true. for some unknown reason it is working right now (maybe it knows i've been angry towards it & is trying to redeem itself) but we think it needs a new hard drive.

i have, however, learned some valuable lessons from previous computer crises. the external hard drive has all my pictures & documents saved. yeah! and my palm pilot will have some of my calendar (why haven't i hotsynced that info lately???) & contacts saved.

my acer's like a good friend who knows all our great & personal information--like our checking account or secret emails sent from loved ones. maybe it's good i take a little break from it, i think i feel a sense of betrayal. do you think it feels the same way since i opted for the external hard drive instead of trusting fully in it's c: drive?

crazy microwave

when heating her after school "hot tea" up in the microwave, kamrie said, "mom, this thing counts backwards. that's crazy."

Happy Helpers

Our focus this last week has been serving others. The kids get "happy helper" stickers if they do a job without being asked or if they do a job happily. We're trying to put the verse "Be happy as you work. Do your work as for the Lord not for men,(Eph 6:7 New Life Version)." into practice.

If they feed the dog, they'll come to me & say "I fed Sunny and I was happy!" and they get a sticker. So far it's working well. I am amazed at the motivation a tiny star brings. And it's brought on many conversations about serving & how we should store up for ourselves treasures in heaven not on earth.

As soon as Parker came home from school today he started scooping snow--without being asked. He did the front sidewalk & then moved on to the driveway. He had it almost completed when I sent Hunter out to help. Pretty soon I looked out & they were both across the street scooping the neighbors sidewalk. I was so proud of both of them.

Our neighbor tried to pay Hunter but he said, "no thanks." I know how badly Hunter probably wanted that money too! I was very proud of him choosing to scoop just because he could, not because he was expecting to be rewarded.

Daniel Study

If you have the opportunity to do the Beth Moore "Daniel" Bible study, DO IT! We're on week 2 & it has already been powerful. She compares Daniel's captivity in Babylon to our time here on earth and how important it is to not become indoctrinated by "Babylon".

I'm anxious to see what God reveals in the next 10 weeks...

Zip, Nada, Zilch

Guess what was wrong with the washing machine?

Yep, NOTHING! I'm glad, but it's kind of like taking your child to the dr. because they were lethargic at home & then they run around the clinic like a crazy kid feeling fine, only to have the dr. tell you that nothing is wrong. Yeah, I kind of figured that out in the waiting room while they were climbing all over the chairs...

Anyway, I digress. The washer was fine for the repair-man. He said possibly I wasn't filling it full enough...Isn't that amazing news? I can CRAM that thing full & not feel a bit badly about it. Evidently if the cycle gets lopsided then it won't spin properly, or maybe even not spin at all.

So, now all of you will have this information WITHOUT having to spend nights at the laundry-mat or telling your children to YES rewear their dirty clothes! Just make sure you cram your washer full enough that it can't get lopsided.

he's back.

the bus-boy is back! yesterday & today cooper said, "mom i like buses" as we passed them. yeah!

awana animals

at awana tonight we were playing a relay game. there was one boy running with the baton in his hand & flapping his arms like a chicken. kind of in his own little chicken world. then a few laps later there was a little girl who just kept repeating "i am a cat i am a cat i am a cat" the whole time she ran around.

breakin'myheart

yesterday as we dropped hunter off at school we drove by the bus barn i said, "cooper there's the buses!" he said, "mom i don't like buses."

gulp.

he said the same thing today. how could he NOT like buses? that's his thing! he's the bus boy!

we'll see if he changes his mind. i'm not ready for that to be one of things i miss him saying like parker saying "pt cruiser! pt cruiser!" or chloe talking about her "big teeth like a horse's."

Snow Pile Art

I love it! This is Kamrie's very first sentence she wrote completely by herself. We have mountains of snow piles across from our house, here is her on top of it! Her picture says "I LK the SNo Poul." Pretty good for sounding out all the words by herself.

Hide My Eyes

In the mornings Cooper thinks it's too bright & says I want to "hide my eyes". So, he'll either bury his eyes in your neck or even better go cuddle with daddy under the covers. He loves to hide under his blankets--to play & to sleep. Oftentimes you'll find him in the morning completely underneath his covers. But he also likes to play under them, looking at the different designs on the colorful blankets.

Washer Blues

Uh Oh. Our washer isn't working. It won't spin the water off the clothes. When can a repair person get here? We're not sure. They'll call us on Monday & set up a time. They'll come & look at it sometime next week. They'll order whatever parts are needed. They'll wait for the parts to come. They'll come fix it & walaa! We'll have clean clothes once again.

I'm so thankful almost all of our clothes are clean right now. I was putting the last load into the dryer & wondered why they were still sopping wet.

Wish I could use your new washer Sonja...:)

Girls' Game Time

The girls love to play games. Grandma's are sure good at agreeing to play. Here's Grandma Bond and Great Grandma Bond playing the Princess Jewelry Game on Christmas Eve & Grandma Paulette playing Memory earlier today.

CO2

We had to unplug our CO2 detectors while putting in the egress window. What a fumey mess! The entire house was full of CO2 fumes, I was worried about Brad & my Dad working directly in it. The one picture is how full of fumes the bedroom was with Brad standing in it blowing the fumes back out the hole with a fan in his hand. Glad it's done & no one got sick...

Christmas Day

Daddy reading the Christmas story

Parker's laptop. He has wanted a "laptop" for 2 years...(last year his request was for a "blacktop, you know, a computer" this year it was for a laptop with stripes)
Daddy's slippers
Hunter's radar gun
Chloe's purple hair from Parker
Kam's pink hair from Hunter
It was all Hunter could do to buy the Kasey Kahne sweatshirt instead of the Jeff Gordon one...
Chloe's purple doll
Kamrie's tea set set
Cooper's "Mack" truck
Christmas Sled
"Daddy's Girl"

Kamrie & Daddy

Doggy Diet

The vet told me on Wednesday that Sunny needs to lose 7 pounds. So even our dog has a New Year's Resolution, even though he's unaware. I guess when you are a lab 95.5 pounds is a bit too heavy. What is sad (although good) is that he has already lost 4 pounds in the last 2 months. Guess we'll have to cut back on things like popsicles.

MoreOldFriendsNewYear

24 hours wasn't nearly long enough to spend with our YC friends. We headed to Tiff, Mile's & Landen's in Omaha on New Year's Eve. We got to really ring in the new year with them & Brennon, Twyla, Taylor & Bode. This was the first time all of our kids were together & it was great. I'm still recovering from the late night Tripole game. Is it worth it?? For sure!

OldFriendsNewYear

We had a full & great weekend with Todd, Sonja, Cassie, Colton & Colby here. Our time with them is treasured since we've moved. The kids had a great time and so did the parents. After introducing Todd & Sonja at church on Sunday to Doug, he said "When did you get friends?" Funny but seriously, we so appreciate Todd & Sonja's family.

Here is what we go through to get a picture of all of them...

Happy Birthday Kamrie!

Kamrie turned 6 on New Year's Eve. Hard to believe my little girl could already be 6. What does a 6 year old (my 4 year old also wants this, although she'll have to wait...) want for their birthday? Her ears pierced! We trekked to Claire's & chose the pink flower earrings. Lovely. Her eyes became big as saucers & she dropped the bear, but NO tears. Like I said, it's hard to believe how big she's gotten.

New Year, New Creation

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! 2 Corinthians 5:17

What a great way to think of starting the New Year! We not only get to "start over" in 2008, we can also become a new creation in Christ. What are you waiting for?