TWO WORDS

SERVE HIM

there are many ways to serve our great God..here are a few:


1. Take care of your sick child..."come to me,all who are weary and burdened, and I will give rest"
2. Send an encouraging letter to a hurting friend..."A harsh word stirs up anger, but a kind word turns away wrath"
3. Give your child EXTRA attention today..."children are a heritage and a gift from the Lord"
4. Trust him w/the little things, as well as, the big things..."If you have faith as little as a mustard seed, you can tell this mountain to move, and it will move"
5. Love your enemy in some way today (prayer, kind word or gesture).."what is impossible w/men, is possible w/God, therefore all things are possible"
6.Watching my 14 mos old cram a powdered donut in her mouth after telling her, "no", just watching the satisfaction and joy on her face afterwards..."Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these"....

May we praise and serve God with the big things, and ESPECIALLY with the little things...He is always pleased with the little things....

Are there Redvines in Heaven??

My kids and I took a trip to Target after picking sissy up from school today, we had to exchange some towels..anyway, as I always do when going to Target, I HAVE to have some Redvines licorice...they are the only store that sells them!! I was so excited to be leaving w/my sugar fix, so I was generous w//my kids, giving them 2 each, which they had eaten before we even reached the van....Anyway, we got home, visited Pop and Monie, where Pop proceeded to eat 3 of them, followed by Jake and Audrey "sneaking" around and eating about 3 more each(after I had told them not to, I obviously didnt know they had)...So I had the package in my hand ready to eat my 3rd piece, when I look AND ITS EMPTY.....so my ?? is,,,,Are there Redvines in Heaven, cuz Im getting my OWN package.....

MYRTLE BEACH-2009

Sorry it took so long to blog about our beach vacation...I was waiting to see if the pics actually made from my camera to the computer....no luck....something about not having a scanner, or something..I think its my cord...anyway....We had a blast....Emma Grace made it thru 4 hours of driving and the last 2 were less than peaceful....and to this day, she REFUSES to ride in her carseat...go figure....she LOVED the beach...I put her in the sand to see what she'd do 1st, she just pushed her chubby baby fingers beneath the warm, rough sand and was good from there...as long as there was sand, she could have stayed there the whole day!!...Jake was more interested in the hotel pool and water park, oddly enough, and couldnt wait to put his lifejacket on every morning around 9am, so he could jump off the deep end...Audrey was ALL about the ocean water and collecting seashells..We must have brought about 200 lbs of shells back home...she took all her classmates one , as a souvenir...my baby girl, always thinking about others...Daddy just enjoyed playing w/his kids in the ocean, by dunking them, or riding them on his back, or boogie boarding together...they had fun just being able to play w/daddy ALL day, instead of just at night..........Me........R E L A X A T I O N................... Russ was kind enough to take the kids for me alot of the time (which he hardly does..lol) so I was able to enjoy God's peaceful creation and get a good tan at the same time..ha ha....we did have one mememorable moment we will NEVER forget...on our last night there we decided to eat at Shoneys, because we were getting broke at that point, and a nice cheap dinner sounded good...As we sat down to eat our food from the seafood buffet, our "neighbor" at the table next to us kept saying something...we couldnt understand, till he spoke the only clear word I heard him say which was, bug....oh yeah....it WAS a bug,,,a Palmetto cockroach to be exact...he found his way to the top of our table and was crawling thru our plates !!!!! I was horrified...I marched directly to the Mgr, and the rest was history..other than that particular experience, we had a marvelous time at the beach!!!

Were back in business!!

Well, our internet has been down for 2 weeks, due to a freak lightning strike...so, were finally back....Alot has transpired in the last 2 weeks...$300 van repair, $135 A/C repair, 2 kids in Fall Ball, singing at church, planning a beach vacation (which we are leaving at 4am tomorrow morning), Russ being gone on business for 4 days...so weve been pretty busy,,what else is new for this Lonas bunch!!! lol....please pray for us for a safe trip to Myrtle Beach, Ill write more later....

"Motherly" Advice

I've learned a few things over the years, since becoming a mother, that I think you would like and benefit from...My need to "save a nickel" has really gotten worse the older I get, and also with the more babies I deliver...And you'd be surprised to know that even if your financially stable or "okay", everyone still needs to save today, given our economy,,,esp... mothers...So, here are a few suggestions, as a mother of course, to help you save a few pennies....

1.Place a paper towel in your salad bowl to use the next day, the paper towel soaks up the moisture from the lettuce, so it stays crisp.
2.For a bee/wasp sting, rub a paste of baking soda/water on it...takes the sting away.
3.When using your coupons at your store, wait til the item is on sale or buy one/get one free, not only will you get better savings, you might get 2 items..
4.For mothers with babies, save your baby wipe boxes, I use them for my sons cars,blocks,Audreys polly pockets,cotton balls,qtips,etc.
5.Im not really advertising, but Food City does the fuel bucks program, where if you buy so many Food Club items, you get fuel bucks,worth a $1 to use at their gas pumps...you'd be surprised how much you save by getting generic items PLUS free gas...once I spent less than $100 on groceries (for 5 of us,including diapers), and still got $10 in free fuel bucks! Its worth it..
6.Buy block cheese, instead of shredded...not only are they cheaper, but you can use them other ways, like sliced for grilled cheese...
7.Having a garage sale once a year puts money in your pocket, and junk out of your garage, so my my hubby says..
8.Instead of buying the fresh chicken, buy the bigger bag of frozen chicken...you can take out as much as you need, and sometimes I can get 3 meals out of it..thats about $2 per chicken meal...
9.When having dinner guests over, plan your 3 course meal to include one or two of the same ingredients, so its more useful in your dishes, and you dont feel like your buying a big tub of bread crumbs to use once, and the rest to sit in your pantry.
10.Last but not least,,,,(and this one is comical, but hey, it saves $$)..If you have a baby and a potty training age child, buy only one big pack of diapers..when the baby gets to a certain age, they will be in the same size as the toddler so they can use the diapers too for "nightime" potty training, and your not having to buy pullups!!!!

The Tooth Fairy was very busy............

Well, it was that time again for the semi-monthly visit from the Tooth Fairy at our house....Audrey had this one tooth on the front, the big ones, that we tried and tried and tried to get out for almost 2 mos now...thats how long that sucker had been hanging on for!!! anyway, the night before last, Audrey had her little ziploc bag w/her tooth and a note for the tooth fairy that read, "Deer Tooth Fairy, here is my tooth , I hope you like it, I work really hard to get it out.I Love you, Love Audrey"....She had it placed, ever so neatly , under her pillow that AFTERNOON,and was ready for her when she swooped in from "fairyland" to give Audrey the 5 dollars she was soooo longing for...Yeah.......did I mention WHEN she put the tooth under her pillow?...It wasnt until the next morning that I had to see and hear the worst heartbreaking phrase I believe I've ever had to deal with out of one of my children...With a glazed look over her eyes and the ziploc bag in her hands, she muttered the words, "The tooth fairy forgot about me"........................okay, I know,,,,bad mom and dad award....my heart sank right w/her...So I made up this story about how Santa Clause has a sleigh and can visit all the children of the world in one night, but the tooth fairy has lots of kids to visit on a daily basis, so she didnt forget, she was very busy and would be back tonight---with a vengeance---..needless to say, Audrey was happy w/that response and this morning Im looking forward to seeing the joy on her face when she finds the 5 dollar bills the tooth fairy left for her.....

Happy 1st Birthday Emma Grace !!!

This past weekend, on Friday morning at 7:18am to be exact, my baby girl turned one yr old...WOW,, time really flies by...I made a comment recently that when Audrey's 1st birthday was approaching, I was ready for it...I really had a whole year to enjoy her, and it felt like it lasted that long!! I still remember her 1st rollover, 1st sitting up,1st crawling, 1st walking (late-14 mos)...everything seemed so cherished...I wrote EVERYTHING down...and pretty much the same went for Jake, except I had a 3 yr old helper in the mix....back to Emma Grace, as she is the "queen" of this post today...I feel like the last yr was a blur, but nontheless we had a wonderful time on Friday night, we took her to Chucky Cheese for the 1st time...She was terrified, from the "chucky" puppets, to the rides, to the actual Chucky himself coming out to grace the kids...(we have the fearful pic to prove it)....It was fun though...Sunday---party day---also happened to be my b-day, but we wont get into that..I said from now on, I have an excuse to celebrate someone elses bday...anyway, we had about 30 people over for BBQ, beans, and all the fixins..followed by a rented dalmatian bounce house and slip-n-slide......EG had all kinds of wonderful gifts...Thanks everyone!! all in all it was a wonderful day!!