Finnegan's Dedication

I've always wanted to have our children dedicated. I felt that it was something that was important to do. So, it's better late than never... Seeing that Finnegan s 16 months old :)

Here are some photos from the ceremony...






Us with Pastor Mark... He's talking.



Here is us and the Matthew's Family...Us praying... Finnegan was distracted.
Ok, so this is vein me... I was really proud of my outfit (and my red boots)
And here is Finn's afternoon adventure with the blocks!
And resting with Daddy!

Not Me! Monday

Hello all! Welcome to my version of MckMama's Not Me! Monday! I find it therapeutic to "admit" to the things that you'd never find me doing, because, you see, I am the perfect mother! (Melissa and Jenney both post this fun post, and I thought I join the crowd)

I did not allow my son to stand in the basket of the grocery buggy in order to avoid from hearing temper tantrum at Costco. You know those crazy screaming fits that everyone hates to hear... yeah, those were the ones I was avoiding. I did not allow him to stand next to the produce and hope that he didn't stand on it. I did not think about (and even attempt) to buckle him to the seat while he was standing to assure he didn't fall out - but it didn't fit :)

I definitely did not skip out on the church service after my son was dedicated on Sunday. You'd think that if I wanted to train my child in the way of the Lord, I would stay at church to hear the sermon.

I did not set my son's pack-n-play up in the walk in closet while on vacation so my husband and I could have some privacy! It was definitely not my idea and I did not smile each night when we put him to bed in his quiet little room away from ours.

Prayer Request!

** I'll post again later, just wanted to throw this out there for you all!!**

Please be praying for my dad today as he has another job interview. This prospect seems much more promising than the previous ones and it is an exciting opportunity for him. This job is much more up his alley than anything else, it would seem that the job was made for him (at least what I know about it). Please pray for God's continual faithfulness to my parents. We ask that you'd pray for God's continual provision and mercy in this situation and dealing with their house (it went on the market late last week).

I am confident that God has a plan, and he is forever proving himself to be faithful and just in each step. Continue to pray that Dad and Mom will be trusting and that Satan would not get a foothold in their perceptions, or emotions. And that they would only see the face of Jesus.

I'll update you more and give you more information, when it is mine to share :) Thanks for your prayers!

Food for Thought!!

Ken and I are involved in a Bible Study that is going through the Truth Project. If you're unfamiliar with it, it is study faciliated by Dr. Del Tackett on the foundation of Truth and all of the pillars of our life and how truth should look in each of the areas. The study goes through the hard questions of "Who is God?" "Who is Man?" ethics and philosophy, family, church vs. state etc. The studies purpose is not for evangelism but to help Christians realize the foundation of our faith is in Christ and to see the true face and nature of God in the world that is around us. The study has really helped to remind me why I believe what I beleive and to really show me that God has a plan and he will continually work through it. The study is very academic, which Ken and I enjoy. Anywho, this week, we talked about the "State". And the role of the state and why we moved from judges to kings and so forth. The most interesting part of the study for me, came at the end, when Dr. Tackett explained the following:

"This is what happens when you disconnect yourself from absolute
truth. When truth is dead there is only power and we are vulnerable to manipulation
and all the atrocities of government.

Social disorder in America is strikingly similar to that which marked the decline of Rome
5 attributes marked Rome at it’s end:
1. a mounting love of show and luxury,
2. an obsession with sex, including homosexuality,
3. freakishness in the arts, masquerading as originality,
4. enthusiasms pretending to be creativity.
5. an increased desire to live off the state."
Edward Gibbons, Decline and fall of the Roman Empire.

I've never been one to be a ney sayer or to stand on the street corner and claim "the end is coming" but to me, the stricking resembelance is hard to ignore. The fall of America is on its way. It may still be 50 years off... or more... or less. But the fall of America is imininate. Just as the fall of Rome. We will not be the "super-power" any longer. We have forgotten that God is our King and that we should worship him. We've forgotten that God is the one whose saved us, not any one man.

Continue to pray for our country, our new president, our old president and all those who work in our government. We've lost our way and we must find it again, or the end will be ours, wrapped in a pretty red bow!

I am no island!

Oh, yes you are!! Western WA is an island as of today. All passes heading to eastern WA have been closed, and I-5 to Portland has been closed and is under water. A section of I-5 north of Seattle is also temporarily closed. Who would have thought that the only way to get out of the Seattle area is by air! Thank goodness Horizon Airlines has lowered their rates between Seattle and Portland for the week! :)

It doesn't rain in Seattle, it pours!!

So, if you haven't seen it on the news, the Northwest, particularly Seattle, WA is being FLOODED with water. As of this afternoon, the Seattle area was "cut-off" by land from the rest of the country. All four passes over the mountains were closed for avalanche and mud slide concerns. The I-5 coridoore down to Portland, OR has been closed because it is under 5 feet of water for about 5 miles and recently they are saying that just south of Bellingham, WA I-5 is covered with water, which cuts us off from the North. The rain started to really come down on Tuesday morning after a light day of rain on Monday. By Tuesday night they were saying that the floods were going to be bad and folks began preparing. By Wednesday afternoon, the main highway from our home was closed, and many of the side roads in the valley were closed too. It was getting bad. Luckily, we live on the top of a hill, so it doesn't flood that often. We are very fortunately to not have flooding problems. We see on the TV that a town just 15 miles from us has been evacuated and is under about 3 feet of water for 7 miles down the main road. Super Crazy!!

Some of you may remember the water trouble we came home too last Christmas after our time in MI. To make a long story short, our refridgerator had leaked at the connection and filled our kitchen with water, between the laminate floor and the lanoliam that was under it. The water seeped into the living room carpet and we had to get a new floor in our kitchen. Needless to say, Ken and I are a little experienced when it comes to water damage.

Last night, just after I got off the phone with Ken (he was on his way home and he'd been in the car for at least an hour and a half) I was standing by our kitchen table in our dining room and thought that my socks were getting a little wet. My first thought was that the table is next to the doggie door, and the dogs tend to run in and right under the table. So I wasn't concerned. But then something told me to check the floor again. So I did... And the more I searched the more I saw that the carpet wasn't just damp, but it was soaked, especially under the chairs and table legs. So I moved all of our furniture out of the dining room, to help start it to dry and to help Ken because he'd have to do more investigation when he got home.

Ken got home, and opened the front door to ssee all the furniture moved... "Welcome Home, Honey!" I said! "What happened here!" Ken exclaimed! I explained to him what happened and that I thought it was the tree outside our dining room window that might be the culprit. He donned his water shoes baseball cap and head lamp and went out to investigate. He returned and said nothing looked out of the ordinary. So I suggested that he go under the house to see if there was flooding down there. So we cleaned out the closet to access the trap door and he went down (only after he changed out of his work clothes and into some other "play" clothes). He found the culprit. In the words of my husband, "The idiots who built the house, put insulation around a pipe that goes to the ground." So the water was puddling down there (not a ton - but water) and it was wicking up toward our house through the insulation in the floor. We'd noticed about 6 months after we moved in that a drywall seam on that wall of the house had cracked and the paint was peeling. My dad thought it was from the house still settling. Although we've never fixed it, I always thought it was from water or a leak in the window above it. But it seems like it it was gettng worse and then it's fine. Well, once Ken discovered that this was why the floor was wet, I also told him that the wall started to crack right after a large rainstorm after we moved in. I distinctly remember that!!

Well, my husband fixed the problem under the house and by 10pm that night, the floor was already starting to dry. We'd pulled the carpet and pad up to see that the floor boards were wet. So we put a fan to dry the floor and pad out and then today, I've been running the fan to help the carpet dry out. It is starting to smell a bit so i might have to clean that area again before we tack the carpet down again...

Anywho, that's our exciting evening last night. Today, it's hasn't rained as much as they predicted so the ground is starting to dry around the house and we don't have so much standing water in the grass anymore. Hoepfully other homes will begin to dry out too!

These Boots are Made for Walking!!

Oh, what a dream, Don't you think?? I LOVE these boots! Recently, I've been inspired to buy a pair of red shoes. I'm not super into high heels, and didn't know what I would find. Last night after searching the internet, I found these AWESOME boots at Sears. So Finnegan and I took a friendly trip to our local department store. Unfortunately, because they were on SUPER SALE ($25 from $65) they didn't have ANY. So I went home and looked on line at another store. They had them in stock and would hold them for me. The store was up by Ken's work, so he stopped after work to pick them up. He came home and the boots are WONDERFUL. I just love them. The heel isn't too high and I can wear them with jeans, dress pants or whatever. Oh, man. They are so sassy! I love them! And a good price too!!