Ringing in the New Year; by the grace of God

Happy New Year! I sincerely hope your New Year’s was not as eventful as ours. We went to Lake Mead National Park for a picnic. That sounds pretty uneventful, doesn’t it? We saw a coyote as we pulled up to the picnic area and stopped to take some pictures. Since it was far enough away we continued with our plans for a picnic. We ate in peace, but kept an eye out for the coyote.

After a little while another couple came with 2 dogs, but they were on the other side of the picnic area. Frank said that the domesticated ones were the ones we’d have to watch out for. So we kept an eye on them as well.

Alex and I went for a walk up a hill and on the way back he wanted to run. Alex was a few yards ahead of me when the dogs charged. I tried to get Alex to run back to me as I’m running to him, but the dogs were too fast. The German Shepherd attacked Alex, but the other dog stopped. I’m screaming at the top of my lungs, “Get away from him.” The owners called their dog and this time he listened.

I scooped a terrified Alex up. Alex was crying and saying the dog bit him, which I already knew, but I had no idea how bad he was hurt. As soon as I got back to the picnic area I checked Alex and all he had was a scrape that didn’t even break the skin! It was more like a carpet burn. Praise God for his mercy!

After the owners got their dogs into their car the lady came over, (she was shook up almost as badly as I was) to make sure Alex was okay. She apologized profusely, but I don’t think it was her fault, (unless the dog had a history of being that aggressive) nobody would have thought the dog would attack us as far away as we were.

During this time the coyote moved to the other side of us and was joined by another. They were far away and absolutely beautiful to watch. People were driving up to them to take pictures and feed them from their cars, not too smart to do right near a picnic area.. Soon those coyotes were joined by two more, that’s when we decided to leave. Of course we also drove up and took pictures, but did not feed them.

I don’t even want to think about what could have happened. Alex is blessed that he wasn’t seriously injured or even killed. What if both dogs attacked? I could go on and on with the what ifs, but instead I can praise God for His protection and His mercy!

Marie-Anne

Tales of Glory toys at Dollar Tree

I am so excited that I found the Tales of Glory Toys at the Dollar Tree! These are great bible character toys that I got for Alex a while back. He keeps them in the tub and plays with them every single time he takes a bath, though they aren’t bath toys. I bought every single one they had and even went to another Dollar Tree hoping they would have them. I am going to give these toys out for Easter presents to the kids at church. I even got a couple of them that Alex didn’t have.

Marie-Anne

Christmas Lights

There is a man and his wife who for the past 22 years have totally decorated their yard for Christmas. It is free and open to the public. They go all out there is life size animated Christmas things all over and tons of lights. They even have a train ride! We went the day after Christmas. It was very nice, but also very cold. We bought hot coca and cappuccino. Sabrina was covered up with blankets so she missed the lights. Alex and Frank rode the train. Then we went back to the car, but Alex wasn’t ready to leave so while Frank and Sabrina waited in the car we went back through it again. We plan to go back next year.

Marie-Anne

Christmas Day 2008

Our Christmas was great and I hope yours was as well. We opened presents in the morning. Alex, of course, got lots of toys. It was so funny when he opened a box with clothes. He said, “oh, clothes,” (picture a look of disgust) then I pulled back the tissue paper and he saw the fire trucks. Alex’s face lit up. We all got some nice gifts. After Alex opened his last present, (and he got a bunch, after all, he has a bunch of aunts) he asked where’s the rest of my presents! Does any one have any suggestions on teaching a young child to be thankful?

We also had a very nice service where Frank read the accounts of Jesus’ birth and we sang Christmas hymns. (Frank already blogged about the service.) It was a wonderful day.

Marie-Anne

Christmas Day

Our Christmas was great and I hope yours was as well. We opened presents in the morning. Alex, of course, got lots of toys. It was so funny when he opened a box with clothes. He said, “oh, clothes,” (picture a look of disgust) then I pulled back the tissue paper and he saw the fire trucks. Alex’s face lit up. We all got some nice gifts. After Alex opened his last present, (and he got a bunch, after all, he has a bunch of aunts) he asked where’s the rest of my presents! Does any one have any suggestions on teaching a young child to be thankful?

We also had a very nice service where Frank read the accounts of Jesus’ birth and we sang Christmas hymns. (Frank already blogged about the service.) It was a wonderful day.

Marie-Anne

Christmas Eve

We spent Christmas Eve with two wonderful ladies. They invited us over for a wonderful meal and we had a great visit with them and their family. They gave Alex a toy fire truck, a crane, and a big brother teddy bear. They gave Sabrina a very cute outfit. And they sent us home with two boxes of holiday goodies.

Christmas Service

Instead of our regularly scheduled Bible Study on Thursday we had a special Christmas service. We had a lot of fun. We read a few scriptures from Luke 2 and then Matthew 2 and then sang a related Christmas hymn. Then we read a few more verses and sang again, repeating this process through the two accounts of the birth and early life of Jesus Christ on the earth.

Since becoming a Christian, those Christmas hymns are so special, and instead of growing more wearisome each year they are growing in fondness for me. Singing "Joy to the World" and "O Come Ye Faithful" is very enjoyable and edifying. It is shame we have to wait eleven months to sing them again. Hey! Maybe we can have a Christmas service in July!

--Frank

Yellow Squash or Zucchini

I cook yellow squash and zucchini the same.

Yellow squash or zucchini Johnny’s Seasoning Salt
Butter water

Cut the yellow squash or zucchini in small pieces. Fill the pan with about an inch of water. Add butter and Seasoning salt to taste. Cook on medium, to high heat until tender.

Marie-Anne

Christmas Fellowship

Today was our Christmas fellowship after church. We had a good turnout and everyone had fun. After church, but before the food the kids sang Joy to the World, but since only two knew the song everyone sang with them. The food was delicious. We are becoming like a family and it is wonderful to see all these people who, not long ago, were strangers laughing and having fun together. Sabrina wore a beautiful fancy green dress, (I wanted her to wear it before she outgrows it). We ended up with a lot of goodies to take home. The best part is that 2 prayed for salvation; God is working in the hearts of men and women in sin city.

Marie-Anne

Saving money on kids clothes

For Alex (when we lived in Washington) and Sabrina most of their clothes were given to us. My sister, Jennifer has a one year old so she sent me a lot of Amelia’s outgrown clothes. Since the cousins aren’t living next door or even in the same state no one will know that Sabrina’s clothes are hand-me-downs in excellent shape. When they outgrow the clothes I will pass them on to someone who can use them, sell them at a consignment shop, or donate them to a crises pregnancy center.

For Alex now I shop clearance sales in a size or two bigger than he’s wearing. I also bought some cute dresses in a size or two bigger than Amelia is wearing and when she’s outgrown them I’ll get them back for Sabrina.

Saving money on books

We use the library quite a bit, but I also love owning books. I rarely pay full price for books. I usually buy them from thrift stores, garage sales, Amazon (I include shipping in figuring the cost), or from the friends of the library’s sales. When we get rid of books we either sell them at a used bookstore, garage sale, or donate the kid’s books to the local pregnancy center or to an overseas military program to record deployed parents reading for their kids.

Marie-Anne

Early finance lessons

Wanting all of the Imaginext toys has made Alex learn about money. He may get some for Christmas, but if he wants more than that, he has to do extra chores to earn the money. He has already earned enough and bought the Treasure Keeper to go with his castle. Alex also has about half of what he needs to buy the next one he wants. We will also have him put part of his earnings in a saving account and, of course, pay tithe.

Marie-Anne

Cute Easy crafts

Homemade lacing cards- Color a coloring sheets then cut it out and glue it onto a cereal box (or print it on card stock). Cut it out and use a hole punch to make evenly spaced holes all around the outside edge. You can use shoelaces or even curling ribbon to be laces.

Color pictures of people using whatever theme you want then cut them out. Cut out the faces of pictures of your family then glue them in place of the coloring pages’ face. We used a royalty theme; Frank as a king, Alex as a knight, Sabrina as a princess, and me as a queen.

Marie-Anne

Cooking

I have been cooking more and eating at home a lot more. I have discovered that in addition to saving money and being healthier, I really do like to cook and I like to try new recipes. In the last few months we have had loaded potato soup, banana nut bread, peanut butter cookies, winter stew, apple pie, and of course, snowballs, chocolate balls, and pumpkin bread. All of these were new recipes to me and my family has enjoyed every one. Please share your favorite recipes- I’d like to try them!

Marie-Anne

Things I learned

· Babies don’t like it when you warm your hands on their backs
· My wife doesn’t like being charged for me babysitting our kids, when she is doing housework.

Frank

A snowball fight…in Las Vegas

Yesterday there was snow on the mountains and the other side of town got snow. Alex has been asking for snow so I was disappointed that we didn’t get any. Today has been rainy. My mom called after she saw a news report about snow in Las Vegas, I looked out the window and to my surprise the rain turned to snow! Alex and I immediately got ready and went out. He had a blast running back and forth through the snow.





When Frank got home Alex and I headed out back where some snow accumulated on his toys and we had a snowball fight. When my fingers got cold I traded off with Frank. Alex had mittens, but unfortunately the wetness soaked through and when he came in he was in pain. We’ll have to get him some better gloves.

Marie-Anne

Old Mormon Fort

We went to the Old Mormon Fort’s Pioneer Christmas on Friday. We heard there wasn’t much to the Old Mormon Fort, but it was only $2 for the whole family and it was something we could do after Frank got off work. The museum was small, but nice- I enjoyed it although Alex was in no mood to just slowly look, so I didn’t get to read much. We went outside to the Civil War era soldiers. I think Frank and I were more impressed than Alex was. The soldier we talked to gave us a lot of information about the weapons used during the Civil War. We saw Christmas trees decorated, as they would have been in the pioneer days. We watched a lady basket weaving and had some cobbler. It was fun.

Marie-Anne

Parents Visit

We really enjoyed Frank’s parent’s visit. It was the first time they got to meet the new addition to our family! Also, they helped us usher in the Holiday Season: we put up the Christmas tree with them and baked holiday goodies like Snowballs, Chocolate balls, and pumpkin bread. Alva and I left the kids with the guys and went shopping for kitchen appliances, one such item is awesome: a chopper, a device you put food in and it chops the food up. We went to “Famous Dave’s” barbecue restaurant, and on the last day of the trip, we went to the Shark Reef. The Shark Reef a gigantic indoor aquarium that is really cool.

Alex enjoyed showing off his toys and having someone new to play with. I was sad to see them go. I love the chopper!

Guess what I am!

Guess What I Am! I saw this game advertised today and I love it. I went to the website:

http://www.guesswhatiamgame.com/

I am planning on buying this for my children and also for my brother’s kids. This is a game that I will enjoy playing with Alex and Sabrina, (when she’s old enough). It’s silly fun and think of the great scrapbook page you can make using the faces! This will make for a great family night!

Marie-Anne

Tuna Casserole

Here’s a twist on my grandma’s tuna casserole. Even Alex asks for seconds.

Regular potato chips
2 cans tuna
1 can sweet peas
2-3 cans mushroom soup
2 cans mushrooms

Crush chips in bottom of casserole dish. Drain and pour sweet peas, tuna, and mushrooms spreading them out. Cover with mushroom soup making sure to completely cover. Cook for 20 minutes at 350 degrees.

Marie-Anne