Which One Is Normal?

A few days ago I mentioned Zeke's interest in going to the bathroom on the potty.  I'm pretty excited, but I am slowly realizing that it is going to be a completely different story with him than with Areyna.  First of all he's a boy, need I say more=)  This is the kicker though...Areyna will sometimes only go 3-4 times a day and Zeke had her beat in less than an hour yesterday.  I can't hardly keep up with the little guy.  I haven't decided whether or not I want to completely commit to this or not right now, but I'll certainly encourage his excitement by taking him whenever he wants.  I mean, he drinks like a champ.  Am I supposed to cut down on liquids even if it's the very first thing he asks for when he wakes up to the very last thing he wants before he goes to bed?  I'm beginning to think that maybe little boys are more like that dog in our neighborhood who comes to pee on our mailbox just to run over to our tree and pee some more, but don't forget our car tire after that.

I'd Rather Read A Book

I just saw Josh in Zeke in a huge way this morning.  Areyna and Zeke were sitting on opposite sides of the living room rolling a ball together when Zeke turned around to the basket behind him and grabbed one of his favorite books out to read it.  Areyna was as frustrated with Zeke for quitting the game without any warning as I was when I found out that Josh just wanted to bring a backpack full of books to the hospital and read through the whole birthing process when Areyna was born=)  Or when Josh has a goal to read a book a day on our family vacation.  I'm just kidding.  I love that he loves to read and I hope that rubs off on our kids since my favorite books consist of thick pages with big words and lots of pictures=)

Easter (and other things)

Josh and I had a fun easter in VA. Since it was our anniversary (and since we don't know when the Lord will call us to be on staff at a church again, which means no holidays away from your church) we better take advantage and get out of town=) We celebrated Easter at Josh's parents church and then Josh and I took off for Lexington, VA You can see some pretty good pictures of our adventures there on Josh's blog. Then we got coffee at Starbucks, went to a movie (hadn't done that together since Christmas), got dinner at one of my all-time favorites, Panera Bread and then headed over to Barnes and Noble to sit and read (we were instructed by the Meme not to be home before the kids went down for bed so it seemed like 2 nights away). It almost seemed like we were back in seminary on a date night after work. This is a little late but I never really did tell everyone what we did for our anniversary. Better late than never, huh.

Discount Medical Bills

When you get a medical bill in the mail don't pay the full sum right off hand.  Call the number on the bill and ask them if you qualify for any kind of discount if you are willing to pay in full right then.  If it is still too high then just stick to the minimum payment until you can pay it off.  When Josh, my husband, broke his hand 2 days before we were supposed to play in a wedding (I know, I worry about that kind of stuff all the time and it actually did happen this time) and when I had to go to the ER I did this with all of those individual bills.  It doesn't hurt to ask.  I don't remember exactly, but one of the bills was dropped by around $400.  It didn't work on all of them but most of them.  I did it with a couple of Areyna's bills when she was born too.  You can check out this blog to get some other good tips on little things that can save you money!

How Much Is A Car Inspection?

So, somehow Josh and I brilliantly scheduled for both of our cars to have their inspections by the end of...wait!...this month.  Josh decided to take the Trooper today and we'll take the Honda tomorrow.  We weren't worried about the Trooper except for the "check engine" light that has come on and off since we bought the car.  We went through quite a time last year convincing the guys that our car is just one of those troopers that is known for having the light come on for no reason.  They put it through several tests and nothing turned up so it passed.  Well that was last year.  Josh left around 1pm this afternoon and still isn't back.  Supposedly the same scenario occurred this year but 6 things were flagged during the diagnostic.  We're basically looking at about $800-900 dollars.  And this is the good car.  I can't help but laugh.  As soon as we think we've got our finances in order and under control we're thrown for a loop, just so we'll depend on God to provide like he always does=).  Bring on the Honda inspection!!!

Challenge

We are doing a series at our church for the next 6 weeks called One Month To Live. We started the small group lessons tonight with our college/singles group that we lead at our house. I'm really excited because I love making lists and we have the opportunity to make one of the most life-changing lists ever this week. Here's the challenge - write down 5 things you would change about your life if you knew you only had one month to live and commit to work on those things for the next 30 days. I'm pretty excited to pray over the things the Lord can change in my life and think more "eternally". Maybe I'll even post some of the things on my list. I've heard this concept dozens of times, but I really want to make this applicable to my life and live more intentionally.

Could It Be That Time Again

Potty training was tough with Areyna.  There are no books on how to potty train while constantly traveling on the road.  She started showing interested in July when she was about 2 1/2 years old.  But there was almost no way to be consistent until between Thanksgiving and Christmas when I was determined to be done with it and we had a couple local weeks and I knew we'd be home consistently.  We took my friend Emily's advice and she was "naked baby" for about a week or so and wearing her "big girl undies" (we don't say the "P" word at our house=)) and she knocked it out pretty quick.  Well during that time Zeke started to tell me right before or directly after he would go potty in his diaper.  I'd ask him if he wanted to sit on the potty but he was never interested.  I thought it was awesome enough that he'd even tell me at all.  Well, today he pulled at his diaper and said "peepee" and I said "do you want to go on the potty" and he lit up and took off to the bathroom.  As soon as I stripped him down and sat him on the potty it came trickling.  He was so excited.  A couple minutes later he said he had to go again.  We did this a few times until it was all out, I guess, and then he was ready to put his clothes back on.  I don't know if I'm ready to tackle this all over again already, but if he's ready what can I do=)  Maybe we'll be completely diaper-less for the first time in 3 years=) 

6 years

This is Josh, writing on Tasha's blog.  I just confiscated her Mac while she turns up the heat here in our hotel room.  (That didn't come out right.)  Today is our 6-year wedding anniversary and we've got a hotel for the night in Lexington, VA, where we'll spend the day tomorrow checking out some historical sights and stuff.  And we might even kiss and stuff! 

Happy Resurrection Day to everyone.  We were blessed to be able to worship with my family in Roanoke, VA today.  That never happens.  Praise the Lord.  God bless you all.

Children's Songs

Josh and the kids wrote a couple of songs this week. You can listen to them on our pure volume page called "My Jesus" and "Jesus Got Up". You can also read Josh's take on how we've celebrated "Holy Week" with our kids on Josh's blog. ENJOY!!