I Cooked Brady's Goose!

The day after Thanksgiving Brady, Pastor Jeff, Shelby (Riley's Best Friend) and Shelby's daddy Dan went bird hunting. Brady limited out with three pheasants and two geese. Brady is so proud to be putting meat on the table!!! We ate goose last night with a delicious chocolate sauce!!! Anyone got a good pheasant recipe?

How was your Thanksgiving? Ours was...

Great, even though we didn't get to go home. We got together with some of our sweet friends. Pastor Jeff and Michelle Cahill and their children Kelly and Johnny. John and Adrian McNamara and their children Nate, Jacob, Ellie and Pheobe. And I was so glad Mimi helped with the cooking. I thought of Stacy as I made her Chocolate Pecan Pie and thought of Jane as I made her dressing. The kids played games and Riley (ever the cruise director) organized a show for the adults of Awesome and Useless Human Tricks! We laughed alot! I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving, too!

I have a new niece!

This is why I love my Jesus!! Even in our disobedience He blesses us. While we were still sinners Christ died for us! Some of you had already been praying for Braxton before he was born. Now my sister has a baby girl, Bianca (isn't she just the cutest?). My sister has learned some very difficult lessons over the past couple of years. Praise God He has shown her the same grace and mercy He extends to us in our own sinfulness. She is living with my mom and step-dad and going to church and taking those babies. Please keep her and these sweet babies in your prayers as she is getting back on her feet and looking to the Lord to be her Jehovah Jireh(The Lord will Provide). I asked her if it would be alright if I shared her story for prayer request sake. She said yes she has nothing left to hide and needs all the prayers she can get! I won't go into great detail but she would love for us to pray for Bryant (Braxton and Bianca's daddy) as he is in jail for at least a couple of years. He was baptized over a month ago through a prison ministry. Please lift him up as he finds his way out of this mess and into the light!

Pics and Pans

You know you live in a small town when four of your five children and your husband have had their "PICS" in the paper in the last two months! Still it's fun to fill up the fridge with my local celebrities! The "PANS" portion of this post is ... my fearless knights in shining armor dueling underfoot in the kitchen. The best part is I get to be the princess!!!

Trainwreck

No, the hottest fashion trend of young girls is not accessorizing with Thomas the Train. Jay wanted to see what would happen if he put Thomas on Rileys' head. Would it go up that mountain? No, it did not! Poor Charlie was following Riley around the house crying and saying choo choo. He just wanted his train back! Now that I'm blogging I grabbed the camera first and then the scissors. Mixing pre-schoolers and Jr. Highers together is very entertaining!

Giving Thanks!!!

It seemed everywhere I looked yesterday and today I noticed a cross. I wonder if that means I need to get out of the house more? Anyway, I couldn't ignore the writing on the wall and the floor and everywhere else! Thank you Jesus for making a way for us. You are perfect in all your ways.

Give Thanks to the Lord, for He is good.
His love endures forever.
Give Thanks to the God of Gods.
His love endures forever.
Give Thanks to the Lord of Lords.
His love endures forever.
Psalm 136:1-3

HAVE A WONDERFUL THANKSGIVING!

Jumping for Joy!

Riley has some exciting news... she has her own room! She had her own room just eight years ago, from birth to four years. To me, that wasn't very long ago. Since then she has shared a room with one or two sisters. The three of them have been sharing bunk beds (queen on bottom and twin on top). Most mornings you will find them all piled up in the bottom bunk. They have gotten along so well that I almost hate to close that chapter in her life! As most of you know Mimi(Brady's Mom)has been living with us since we moved to Montana. Last weekend she moved to her own place in town. And Riley moved into her own space as well. However, Riley doesn't have any furniture yet... the stores in town said just 4-6 weeks or at the most 8-10 weeks. It's a good thing Riley already knows how to be patient!

The Little Mermaid

This week Bailee and Hallie were practicing and performing in "The Little Mermaid." Every Fall The Missoula Children's Theater travels around the state performing a children's play. They cast the children on Monday practice every day for a week and give two performances on Saturday.(Last year Riley and Hallie were characters in "The Jungle Book.") This year we sat on the front row so Jay was completely enthralled. Jayna (her parents are sweet friends of ours)was the beautiful little mermaid, she did a great job. We were very proud of our little Seahorse (Bailee) and our Seasider (Hallie)

A very busy day!

We had a very fun 10-31, as most of you know it is Brady's B-Day. He turned the big three-four. I got to go on a lunch date with him (thanx Adrian) and I made one of his favorite dinners. We also had a costume parade at Hallie and Bailee's school. The cute little piggy in the parade is Anna Matthews she is one of Bailee's teachers and also in our Bible Study Group. I just love her and am so thankful for all she does!

We have Awana on Wednesday nights so all the kids got to go in their costumes. Adrian and John and Brady and I had so much fun doing the Pumpkin Patch Parable for the Cubbies and everyone got a little candy, too! Riley brought home the most candy. She and a friend went trick-or-treating for UNICEF(taking loose change donations). She wasn't even dressed up and unloaded about five pounds of candy! Her siblings were ever so thankful!

No Animals were harmed during the documentation of the Elk Hunt!

Is the silence deafening regarding my sweet Brady's Elk Hunt? I am begining to realize why people call the dead animals on their walls trophies. The men at our church went on a week long Elk Hunt in Western Montanta (Brady didn't get to stay for the entire week). Not one of them killed anything! The men had a blessed time of fellowship giving their testimonies each night. There was a baptism so, life instead of death makes for a happy ending.